The Relationship Between Radial Artery Depth and Wrist Extension Angle Measured by Ultrasonography

Kang, In Gu; Jeong, Won Joon; Moon, Kyoung Min

Abstract

PURPOSE
Radial artery access has been promoted for anesthesia, critical care, and cardiac catheterization. Our aim was to establish the ideal wrist position for radial artery cannulation; thus we performed ultrasound examinations of the radial artery to analyze the effect of the angle of wrist extension on radial artery dimensions.
METHODS
Measurements were performed in 30 healthy volunteers. The radial artery diameter and the depth from the skin to the radial artery were measured using an ultrasound technique. Radial artery dimensions were measured at wrist joint angles of 0, 15, 30, 45, and 60 degrees.
RESULTS
The average age was 26.7+/-4.7 years. The mean height and weight were 171.0+/-6.9 cm and 68.3+/-15.1 kg, respectively. The mean width and height of the radial artery was 2.61+/-0.54 mm and 2.21+/-0.42 mm, respectively. The depth from the skin to the radial artery was 4.67+/-1.74 mm at a wrist joint angle of 0 degrees. A strong and direct association was found between body mass index with diameters (width and height length) and depth from the skin to the radial artery at wrist angles of 0 degrees. Repeated measure ANOVA revealed that the depth was affected by the wrist joint angle. Our volunteers were associated with shallower depth as increasing in the wrist joint angle statistical significantly (p=0.001). At wrist angles of 30 and 60 degrees, the depth was shallower than 0 degrees (p=0.027, p=0.004).
CONCLUSION
Our results indicate that in healthy subjects the depth of the radial artery is shallow when the wrist joint is extended up. A wrist extension at 30 and 60 degrees for healthy subjects results in a decrease in the depth of the radial artery.