EFFECTS OF BRACHIAL ARTERY CATHETERIZATION ON ARTERIAL PULSE AND BLOOD PRESSURE IN 203 PATIENTS

We have reviewed a series of 203 patients who underwent retrograde cardiac catheterization by means of brachial arteriotomy. Occlusion or stenosis of the brachial artery (BA) associated with unobtainable auscultatory blood pressure (BP) occurred in 57 patients (28 per cent). Of these 57 patients, 8 (3.9 per cent of the total series) had no radial pulse. Brachial arteriotomy has become a major cause of absence and inequality of BP and radial pulses. Failure to appreciate this fact may lead to dangerous errors in diagnosis and therapy, particularly in shock. © 1968.