Peripheral vascular complications from percutaneous transluminal coronary angioplasty: a comparison with transfemoral cardiac catheterization.

The peripheral vascular complications associated with percutaneous transfemoral coronary angioplasty were compared with those that occurred during conventional transfemoral cardiac catheterization. Among 644 patients undergoing percutaneous transluminal coronary angioplasty (PTCA), 6 patients (0.9%) suffered peripheral vascular complications, whereas 35 of 2904 patients having cardiac catheterizations (1.2%) had a peripheral vascular complication. The types of complications associated with both procedures were similar and included groin hematomas, false aneurysms, arterial dissection, arterial perforation, and neurological deficits. The frequency of surgical repair of these complications also was similar in the two groups (50% required repair for a PTCA complication, 34% were repaired after a catheterization complication). The PTCA-associated complications included one myocardial infarction and one death, whereas neither of these occurred in association with a catheterization-induced vascular complication. The surgical management of five of the six PTCA complications was difficult, largely because of the size of the sheath-related puncture site and the presence of active bleeding from the associated systemic anticoagulation. PTCA carries the same risk of development of a peripheral vascular complication as found in transfemoral cardiac catheterization. Care must be taken to prevent sheath-related injury to the aorta-iliac-femoral system and hemorrhagic complications at the puncture site are of particular concern and require urgent surgical attention.