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Transradial angiography and intervention continues to become increasingly common as an access site for coronary procedures. Since the first "Best Practices" paper in 2013, ongoing trials have shed further light onto the safest and most efficient methods to perform these procedures. Specifically, this document comments on the use of ultrasound to facilitate radial access, the role of ulnar artery access, the utility of non-invasive testing of collateral flow, strategies to prevent radial artery occlusion, radial access for primary PCI and topics that require further study., (© 2019 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.)

Instantaneous wave-free ratio (iFR) is a vasodilator-free index of coronary blood flow used for revascularization decision-making. iFR-based revascularization also had a decreased rate of adverse effects from vasodilators, shorter procedure times, and lower revascularization rates. iFR-pullback predicts post-percutaneous coronary intervention physiologic outcomes in tandem and diffuse coronary lesions. iFR may be particularly useful in patients with potential adenosine resistance, contraindications to adenosine, and multivessel or serial lesions. iFR is a useful tool both with and without fractional-flow reserve for revascularization planning., (Published by Elsevier Inc.)

Obtaining femoral and radial arterial access in the cardiac catheterization laboratory using state-of-the-art techniques is essential to optimize outcomes, patient satisfaction, and procedural efficiency. Although transradial access is increasingly used for coronary angiography and percutaneous coronary intervention, femoral access remains necessary for numerous procedures, many requiring large-bore access, including complex high-risk coronary interventions, structural procedures, and procedures involving mechanical circulatory support. For femoral access, contemporary access techniques should combine the use of fluoroscopy, ultrasound, micropuncture needle, femoral angiography, and vascular closure devices, when feasible. For radial access, ultrasound may reveal important anatomic features and expedite access. Despite randomized controlled trials supporting use of routine ultrasound guidance for femoral and/or radial arterial access, ultrasound remains underused in cardiac catheterization laboratories. This article reviews contemporary techniques to achieve optimal arterial access in the cardiac catheterization laboratory., (Copyright © 2017 American College of Cardiology Foundation. All rights reserved.)

Objective: The purpose of this study was to determine if there was a relationship between angiographic lesion complexity and the extent of lipid core plaque (LCP) identified by catheter-based near-infrared spectroscopy (NIRS)., Background: The angiographic complexity of coronary artery disease (CAD) is used to predict outcomes in patients undergoing percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI). The SYNTAX score, an angiographic tool quantifying the complexity of CAD, is associated with PCI outcomes. Recently, a novel catheter-based imaging technique using NIRS can identify LCP, which also is associated with PCI periprocedural myocardial infarction (MI). However, it is unknown whether these events are related to distinct adverse event prone pathobiology, such as a LCP within a complex angiographic lesion. Thus, we hypothesized that LCP identified by NIRS would be associated with high SYNTAX score., Methods: Seventy-eight patients who underwent coronary angiography and target-vessel NIRS were selected from the Chemometric Observations of Lipid Core Containing Plaques of Interest in Native Coronary Arteries Registry, an industry sponsored registry to collate clinical findings in all patients undergoing NIRS evaluation. A lipid core burden index (LCBI) was obtained from the scan of the proximal 50 mm of the target vessel. Three vessel SYNTAX (total, tSYN) and target single vessel (only NIRS-interrogated vessel) SYNTAX (1vSYN) scores were calculated and compared to LCBI. High LCBI was defined as (>110) and was compared to tertile scores for 1vSYN score (low 0-5, intermediate 6-10, high ≥11) and previously established tertiles for tSYN score (low 0-22, intermediate 23-32, high ≥33)., Results: Patients had mean age of 63 years with prevalence of females (10%), diabetes mellitus (28%), hypertension (88%), and smoking history (72%); 1vSYN and tSYN scores correlated poorly with LCBI [(r(2) = 0.25; P = 0.02; n = 78) and (r(2) = 0.24; P = 0.04; n = 78), respectively]. Mean LCBI did not differ significantly across all tertiles of 1vSYN or tSYN scores., Conclusions: Angiographic SYNTAX score only weakly correlated with LCBI. It is of interest as well that high LCBI was also present in cases of low SYNTAX scores. The disparity between the degree of angiographic complexity and the amount of LCP supports postulated mechanisms of the adverse event propensity even in patients who demonstrate low angiographic complexity. Future studies are necessary to address the clinical significance of high LCBI in patients with low-to-intermediate angiographic complexity and their potential for PCI-related complications., (Copyright © 2012 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.)