Over seven months of follow-up, the clinical and angiographic outcomes were better in patients who received a stent than in those who received standard coronary angioplasty. However, this benefit was achieved at the cost of a significantly higher risk of vascular complications at the access site and a longer hospital stay.

With experience, procedural and clinical outcomes of PTCA were similar for the three subgroups, but access failure is more common during transradial PTCA. Major access site complications were more frequently encountered after transbrachial and transfemoral PTCA.

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Left distal transradial coronary access via the anatomical snuffbox, as default technique for patients who need or prefer left radial access over right radial access, deserves further exploration.

Radial access use has been growing steadily but, despite encouraging results, still varies greatly among operators, hospitals, countries and continents. Twenty years from its introduction, it was felt that the time had come to develop a common evidence-based view on the technical, clinical and organisational implications of using the radial approach for coronary angiography and interventions. The European Association of Percutaneous Cardiovascular Interventions (EAPCI) has, therefore, appointed a core group of European and non-European experts, including pioneers of radial angioplasty and operators with different practices in vascular access supported by experts nominated by the Working Groups on Acute Cardiac Care and Thrombosis of the European Society of Cardiology (ESC). Their goal was to define the role of the radial approach in modern interventional practice and give advice on technique, training needs, and optimal clinical indications.

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A new approach for implantation of Palmaz Schatz coronary stents is reported. We describe the technique and rationale of coronary stenting with miniaturized angioplasty equipment via the radial artery. This technique is illustrated in three patients. One patient underwent Palmaz Schatz stent implantation for a saphenous vene coronary bypass graft stenosis, the second patient for a restenosis in the anterior descending coronary artery after atherectomy, and the third patient for a second restenosis after balloon angioplasty in the circumflex coronary artery.