Transradial band

Radial access was standardly performed with a double wall puncture technique and placement of a 6F 10-cm-long sheath (Terumo). The site of radial access was left to the discretion of the operator. A cocktail of 0.2-mg nitroglycerine and 5-mg verapamil was given intra-arterially followed by 5000 IU bolus of unfractionated heparin. The amount of unfractionated heparin was adapted to the patient's body weight when percutaneous coronary intervention was performed. The introducer sheath was removed at the end of the coronary procedure, and a transradial band (Terumo) was applied per manufacturer's instructions.
Angiography of the forearm and hand vasculature was performed by manual contrast injection via the radial introducer sheath according to a standardized protocol. Image acquisition was acquired with a Philips Allura Xper FD10 X-ray system and was set at 30 frames per second with a ×25 magnification. The detector was first positioned to visualize the introducer sheath and the lower arm vasculature. The RA was visualized by retrograde contrast injection (Figure 2A). Then, the contrast antegradely filled the UA and the palmar arch circulation, which was also visualized (Figure 2B and2C). Image acquisition was stopped until the contrast reached the artery of the thumb (Figure 2D; Movie I in the Data Supplement).