UI Hospitals and Clinics cardiologists are turning to an alternative means of opening up blood vessels near the heart with greater comfort for patients.

For selected patients, cardiologists are choosing to reach the spot of a blockage or narrowing of heart vessels by running a lead through a vessel from the arm rather than from the groin.

The transradial procedure is often much more comfortable for patients and typically results in overall fewer bleeding complications. After the transradial procedure is complete, patients can sit up, eat/drink, or even walk without fear of causing bleeding at the access site. This quicker recovery is helpful for patients with chronic back pain or other conditions that may make flat bedrest difficult. In contrast, patients who have had a catheterization using the groin procedure must lie flat on their backs for several hours to prevent bleeding from the site.

A UI interventional cardiologist who performs the transradial procedure, Elaine Demetroulis, MD, associate professor of internal medicine, notes that most patients requiring cardiac catheterization and subsequent coronary artery stenting are candidates for the transradial approach.

University of Iowa Hospitals and Clinics is home to the only cardiac catheterization lab in Eastern Iowa that routinely performs transradial cardiac catheterization and coronary stenting.

More information:

View the "New Heart Cath" video about Gaylord Davis, a patient who benefited from this procedure

UI Heart and Vascular Center appointment information