Radial Artery Flows: Comparative Study

Abstract

Between December 1997 and February 1999, 150 patients who had the left radial artery as one of the conduits for coronary artery bypass graft surgery were randomly divided into 3 groups of 50 each. Group A received a left supraclavicular block with 20 mL of 1.5% lidocaine with adrenaline (1 in 200,000), and 10 mL of 0.25% bupivacaine. Group B received intravenous diltiazem at 0.5 to 1 μg·kg⁻¹·min⁻¹ after induction and during radial artery harvest. Group C received neither the block nor diltiazem. Radial artery blood flow was measured for 20 seconds and compared between the 3 groups. All patients received diltiazem by infusion in the postoperative period for 24 hours. Radial artery take-down was abandoned in one patient in group B. There was one in-hospital death. No ischemic complication of the hand was noted. There was a statistically significant difference in mean blood flow between group B (39.20 mL/20 sec) and group C (28.84 mL/20 sec). Group A flow (34.08 mL/20 sec) was also higher than group C, but this was not statistically significant. The results advocate the use of either supraclavicular block or intravenous diltiazem during radial artery harvest.