When David O’Brien compares his recent catheterization to one he had three years ago, he is completely amazed. That’s because this time the 69-year-old retired police officer was up and walking almost immediately after his procedure.

David is among a growing number of patients at the Heart Institute of Doylestown Hospital to receive radial angioplasty. Using the radial approach, interventional cardiologists gain access to a blocked coronary (heart) artery by inserting a catheter into a patient’s radial artery in the wrist rather than the femoral artery in the groin. Once the catheter is in place, the doctor can open the blocked coronary artery and insert a stent.

“Ten years ago, we couldn’t have gone through the wrist because the instruments we used were too large,” says Doylestown Hospital interventional cardiologist Steven Guidera, MD. “We can now use smaller instruments, and smaller is usually better when you are inserting something into the body.”

The wrist approach offers angioplasty patients a quicker recovery with fewer complications. “This is an incredible advance. The patient is much more comfortable, and there is almost no chance of bleeding complications,” Dr. Guidera says.

“With traditional angioplasty [through the femoral artery], the patient has to lay still for several hours after the procedure with sandbags on his or her groin to control bleeding.”

Not every angioplasty can be accomplished using the radial artery, and only a select group of hospitals, such as Doylestown Hospital, have interventional cardiologists with the specialized training and level of expertise required for this procedure.

“My cardiologist in Philadelphia calls Dr. Guidera a magician,” says David. “He couldn’t believe how he did it. It mystified him.”

To find out more about The Heart Institute of Doylestown Hospital and all of our interventional cardiologists who offer the radial procedure, visit us at www.dh.org, or call our PulseLine Physician Referral Service at 215-345-2121.