Impact of Arterial Access Site on Outcomes After Primary Percutaneous Coronary Intervention

Background— In European Ambulance Acute Coronary Syndrome Angiography (EUROMAX), bivalirudin improved 30-day clinical outcomes with reduced major bleeding compared with heparins plus optional glycoprotein IIb/IIIa inhibitors. We assessed whether choice of access site (radial or femoral) had an impact on 30-day outcomes and whether it interacted with the benefit of bivalirudin. Methods and Results— In EUROMAX, choice of arterial access was left to operator discretion. Overall, 47% of patients underwent radial and 53% femoral access. Baseline risk was higher in the femoral access group. Unadjusted proportions for the primary outcome (death or noncoronary artery bypass graft protocol major bleeding at 30 days) were lower with radial access, however, without differences in major or major plus minor bleeding proportions. After multivariable adjustment, ischemic outcomes were no longer different between access site groups, except for a lower risk of stroke in radial patients. Bivalirudin was associated with lower proportions of the primary outcome in both the radial (odds ratio, 0.58; 95% CI, 0.33–1.03; P =0.058) and the femoral groups (odds ratio, 0.59; 95% CI, 0.37–0.93; P =0.022; interaction P =0.97). Bleeding was significantly lower in the bivalirudin group both in the radial- and femoral-treated patients but no significant difference was observed in ischemic outcomes. In multivariable analysis, bivalirudin emerged as the only independent predictor of reduced major bleeding (odds ratio, 0.45; 95% CI, 0.27–0.74; P =0.002). Conclusions— In this prespecified analysis from EUROMAX, radial access was preferred in lower risk patients and did not improve clinical outcomes. Bivalirudin was associated with less bleeding irrespective of access site. Clinical Trial Registration— URL: http://www.clinicaltrials.gov . Unique identifier: NCT01087723.