PALOS HEIGHTS, Ill., Oct. 27 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ —
Interventional cardiologists affiliated with Palos
Community Hospital are among the first in Chicago’s southwest
suburbs to embrace the transradial approach for heart angiograms
and clearing blocked arteries. Transradial catheterization uses
arteries in the wrist to access the heart, and it offers many
improvements over the traditional approach by reducing bleeding
complications, eliminating scarring and offering significantly
shorter recovery periods.

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Cardiac catheterizations are performed to diagnose a heart
problem or as part of a procedure to correct a problem that’s
already been diagnosed. The majority of people requiring
catheterizations in the United States undergo a procedure that
accesses the heart through the femoral artery in the leg, known as
transfemoral access. However, advances in diagnostic technology,
such as those at Palos Community Hospital, now show that the best
path to the heart may be through the wrist.

“By going through the wrist rather than the groin, most patients
experience less pain after the procedure, as well as a reduced risk
of bleeding,” explains
Roy Bliley, M.D., an interventional cardiologist affiliated
with Palos Community Hospital. “When it comes to patient comfort,
the benefits are great.”

Although complications from standard catheterization through the
groin are low, occurring in between only two and nine percent of
patients, the transradial approach can reduce bleeding – the
most common complication among women and the elderly – to
less

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