Surgical treatment of brachial artery injuries after cardiac catheterization.

A consecutive series of 532 patients (1.5%) required local thrombectomy and arterial repair after 34,291 transbrachial cardiac catheterizations performed at the Cleveland Clinic from 1980 to 1988. A total of 514 patients (97%) were discharged from the hospital with normal radial pulses and/or normal ulnar pulses after a single surgical procedure. Fourteen others (3%) each required one additional procedure to regain a distal pulse, and four patients either underwent two reoperations, received thrombolytic therapy, and/or remained pulseless. Surgical delay of more than 1 day after catheterization was associated with a higher incidence of recurrent thrombosis (12% vs 2%, p = 0.025). In comparison to our previous experience with iatrogenic brachial injuries, the liberal use of segmental arterial resection and overnight heparin anticoagulation seem especially to reduce the risk for early failure in all patients, but improvement was particularly marked in women (25% vs 6%, p = 0.0004).