Comparison Between Radial and Femoral Artery Access for Transarterial Chemoembolisation in Patients With Hepatocellular Carcinoma

The purpose of this study was to compare the technical success rate, the selectivity of transarterial chemoembolisation (TACE), the complication rate, the radiation dose given to the patients and the hospitalization stay between TACE performed using femoral artery approach (FAA) and TACE performed using radial artery approach (RAA) in patients with hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC). Between June 2020 and April 2022, 49 patients with HCC who underwent 116 TACEs (75 using FAA and 41 using RAA) were included. Differences in technical success rate, selectivity of micro-catheterization, radiation dose given to the patients, fluoroscopy time, hospitalization stay duration, and complication rate were compared between FAA and RAA using Fisher exact or Student tests. No differences in technical success rates were found between RAA (93%; 39/41 TACEs) and FAA (100%; 75/75 TACEs) ( = .12). There were no differences between the two groups in terms of selectivity of catheterization, radiation dose, fluoroscopy time and hospitalization stay duration. Five patients had Grade 2 complications (hematoma) after FAA vs. one patient with one Grade 1 complication (radial artery occlusion) after RAA (5/75 [7%] vs. 1/41 [2%], respectively; = .42). No major arterial access site complications occurred with FAA or RAA. This study confirms that RAA is a safe approach that does not compromise the technical efficacy and the selectivity of TACE compared to FAA in patients with HCC.