Radial Artery Access for Cerebral Angiography: 2-Dimensional Operative Video

A number of studies have demonstrated that the radial artery is a safer access site than the femoral artery for endovascular procedures.(1-4) In the prospective randomized studies comparing transradial and transfemoral approaches for cardiac procedures, there was a 60% reduction in access site complications as well as significant decreases in all-cause mortality with the transradial approach as compared to transfemoral, which has led to the adoption of a radial first strategy.(5-7) Neurointerventional studies have demonstrated similar safety benefits as well as improved patient preference.(8-14) In this video, a patient presented with an unruptured anterior communicating artery aneurysm and consented to a transradial artery diagnostic cerebral angiogram. This technical video demonstrates the key preprocedural preparation, room setup, patient positioning, steps for radial artery, and distal radial artery puncture and sheath placement. Distal transradial artery access is our preferred approach for diagnostic cerebral angiography because of an improved safety profile and procedural ergonomics. In cases in which a larger radial artery is advantageous such as for neurointerventions requiring larger systems, a standard transradial approach may be performed.(9) In this video, a full 6-vessel cerebral angiogram is performed, followed by our arteriotomy closure technique using our standard equipment including a 10-cm 5 French Glidesheath Slender (Terumo, Japan), 100-cm hydrophilic coated 5 French Simmons 1 catheter (Merit OEM), 0.035 hydrophilic coated guidewire, and SafeGuard closure device (Merit, Salt Lake City, Utah).