Transradial coronary intervention as the primary approach for acute myocardial infarction.

n the first case of percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI), reported by Dr Gruntzig in 1978, the transfemoral approach was used. Since then, many interventional cardiologists have performed PCI using that approach. However, in the history of cardiac catheterization, the first case was performed by a urologist Dr Forssmann, from his own brachial vein to the right side of his heart in 1929, for which he received a Nobel Prize because he opened the gate to cardiac catheterization. Dr Sones started coronary diagnostic catheterization via the brachial artery in 1960, so catheterization from the upper limb is quite an old idea. Following Dr Sones, Dr Judkins started transfemoral coronary diagnostic catheterization using a catheter that he had designed for easy engagement in the coronary artery, and the transfemoral approach using the “Judkins technique” became the standard technique.