Comparison of radiation exposure in radial and femoral vascular approach of percutaneous transluminal coronary angioplasty –a cross sectional analytical study from a tertiary care centre, kerala

Introduction: Studies show there is no significant difference in the radiation exposure to the patient or to the operator when the percutaneous transluminal coronary angioplasty (PTCA) was done using radial and femoral artery approaches by a single operator.
Objectives: The objectives of the current study were (a)to compare the radiation exposure in single operator radial and femoral approach of PTCA (b)to estimate the radiation exposure in patients undergoing PTCA using Nano dot radiation measuring chipinstead of DAP meter (dosage area product).
Method: A cross sectional analytical study done in the cardiology department of a tertiary care institution for a period of 2 years .Patients with age >18 yrs, undergoing elective PCI, eligible for radial and femoral vascular approaches were included in the study after getting the informed consent. The radial and femoral vascular approaches were done by an experienced single operator. The sample size required for the study was 40 and collected data for a total of 40 patients. In a structured study proforma the clinical and procedure related data were collected. The data were entered in Microsoft excel and analysed in SPSS version 20.
Results: The mean age of the study participants in radial approach was 59.5 (9.8) years and that of femoral approach was 61.9 (7) years. The dosage area product for radial v/s femoral approach was 8351 + 4164.7 v/s 8797.8+ 4254.3 cGy•cm2with p value 0.52, patient exposure dose was 28.85+12.95 v/s 29.17+14.52 cGy with p value 0.95 and the operator exposure dose was 10.9+5.5 v/s 10.7+ 5.4 μSv with p value 0.35.
Conclusion: Our study showed that there wasno significant difference in radiation exposure to the operator or the patient during radial and femoral vascular approaches in a single operator PTCA.