Ulnar artery versus radial artery approach for arterial cannulation: a prospective, comparative study

Abstract

Study Objective: To compare the case of cannulation, success/failure rate, and complication rate between ulnar and radial arteries. Design: Randomized, controlled study. Setting: Operating room. Patients: 100 ASA physical status I, II, and III patients undergoing general anesthesia and requiring arterial cannulation. Interventions: Patients were divided randomly into two separate groups of 50 patients each according to cannulation site: ulnar artery (group U) or radial artery (group R) group. Measurements: The presence and fullness of the arterial pulses (strong/weak/absent), ease of cannulation (cases in which cannulation was successful on the first attempt and those that which required more than one cannulation attempt), success rate of cannulation, and complications (early/late) were all recorded. Main Results: The radial artery was stronger in pulse (83% vs 73%). The success rates of cannulations for the ulnar and radial arteries were 82% and 90%, respectively (P > 0.05). The overall success rate of cannulation in the ulnar group with a strong pulse was 100%. There were significant differences in the success rate of cannulation between the patients with strong and weak pulses in the ulnar group (P < 0.0001). Ease of cannulation and complication rates of cannulations were not statistically different in both groups. Conclusions: The success rate of an arterial cannulation in a patient with a strong ulnar pulse is the same as for radial artery cannulation. (C) 2007 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.