The effect of early mobilisation for patient undergoing coronary angiography; a pilot study with focus on vascular complications and back pain.

Background: The optimal length of bed rest after femoral coronary angiography is still unknown. Short immobilisation could cause puncture site complications due to the modern antiplatelet therapy used, while long immobilisation time increases the risk of back pain for the patient.
Purpose: To assess the safety, as well as perceived comfort, of early mobilisation after coronary angiography with femoral approach.
Methods: A randomised, single centre pilot trial with 104 coronary angiography patients (including 58 patients with non ST-elevation acute coronary syndrome) assigned to a post-procedural bed rest time for either 1.5 or 5 h. The primary endpoint was any incidence of vascular complication. Patients' discomfort was measured as self-perceived grade of pain in the back.
Results: The presence of haematomas ≥ 5 cm was 5.8% in the short immobilisation group vs. 3.8% in the control group (ns). There was a significantly lower rate of perceived back pain in the short immobilisation group, compared to the controls, at the time of mobilisation, which remained significant also after 2 h of mobilisation.
Conclusion: Early ambulation after coronary angiography is safe, without affecting the incidence of vascular complications, and decreases the patients' pain, both during and after the bed rest.
(Copyright © 2010 European Society of Cardiology. Published by Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.)