Review
Copyright ©The Author(s) 2020. Published by Baishideng Publishing Group Inc. All rights reserved.
World J Cardiol. Jan 26, 2020; 12(1): 26-34
Published online Jan 26, 2020. doi: 10.4330/wjc.v12.i1.26
Radial artery access site complications during cardiac procedures, clinical implications and potential solutions: The role of nitric oxide
Emma M Coghill, Timothy Johnson, Russell E Morris, Ian L Megson, Stephen J Leslie
Emma M Coghill, Ian L Megson, Free Radical Research Facility, Division of Biomedical Sciences, University of the Highlands and Islands, Inverness IV2 3JH, United Kingdom
Timothy Johnson, Johnson Matthey Technology Centre, Blount’s Court, Sonning Common, Reading RG4 9NH, United Kingdom
Russell E Morris, School of Chemistry, University of St. Andrews, St Andrews KY16 9ST, United Kingdom
Stephen J Leslie, Department of Cardiology, NHS Highland, Inverness IV2 3UJ, United Kingdom
Author contributions: Coghill EM composed the basis of the article; Leslie SJ produced the clinical piece with all authors contributing equally to the editing.
Supported by the European Social Fund and Scottish Funding Council as part of Developing Scotland’s Workforce in the Scotland 2014-2020 European Structural and Investment Fund Programme.
Conflict-of-interest statement: Johnson T is employed by a company with an active research interest in the commercialisation of MOFs.
Open-Access: This article is an open-access article which was selected by an in-house editor and fully peer-reviewed by external reviewers. It is distributed in accordance with the Creative Commons Attribution Non Commercial (CC BY-NC 4.0) license, which permits others to distribute, remix, adapt, build upon this work non-commercially, and license their derivative works on different terms, provided the original work is properly cited and the use is non-commercial. See: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/
Corresponding author: Stephen J Leslie, FRCP PhD, Professor, Department of Cardiology, NHS Highland, Inverness IV2 3UJ, United Kingdom. stephen.leslie@nhs.net
Received: September 4, 2019
Peer-review started: September 4, 2019
First decision: September 28, 2019
Revised: November 5, 2019
Accepted: November 26, 2019
Article in press: November 26, 2019
Published online: January 26, 2020
Processing time: 112 Days and 2.2 Hours
Core Tip

Core tip: Radial access during interventional cardiology procedures is much safer than femoral access although complications can still arise. However, the radial artery is more prone to spasm which can cause pain for the patient and lead to procedural failure. Current strategies to avoid spasm include administration of an anti- spasmolytic cocktail. Several disadvantages towards the use of this “cocktail” leaves a gap in the industry for a new product to dilate the artery without any systemic effects.