I don’t think we have the data to say that this is a positive study or that we should change our practice because of these results. It’s an incomplete study, so we really don’t have the data. We need to think about why we didn’t have the anticipated enrollment and why the bleeding rate was lower than expected in the femoral access group. Those are the things that I think led to the futility. But it’s not really a negative trial. We simply don’t know whether radial access will be better in high-risk women undergoing PCI. It’s promising, and it makes all the sense in the world because of the bleeding risk in women.
Alice K. Jacobs, M.D., is a professor of medicine and director of the cardiac catheterization laboratory and interventional cardiology at Boston University. She gave these remarks at a press briefing. Dr. Jacobs reported having no relevant financial disclosures.
