[Coronary angiography via femoral and radial accesses in patients with extensive atherosclerosis].

The incidence of complications and the comparative results of endovascular interventions made via femoral and radial accesses are analyzed. The study included 142 patients with coronary atherosclerosis and coronary heart disease showing a hemodynamically significant atherosclerotic lesion of at least three vascular beds. Angiography was made via femoral and radial accesses in 86 and 56 patients, respectively. In patients with multifocal atherosclerosis, the number of cardiac events (myocardial infarction, death) did not differ significantly when coronarography was made by applying different accesses. There were a significantly larger number of peripheral thrombotic events in the femoral access group (p < 0.05). Aneurysm of the abdominal aorta with its thrombosis was found to be a risk factor of the occurrence of thrombotic complications when coronary angiography was made via the femoral access. Coronary angiography performed through the radial artery allows the risk of thrombotic complications to be substantially reduced in patients with multifocal atherosclerosis: such complications were not observed in the radial access group, they were in 5 (5.8%) cases in the femoral access group.