<p id="hl0000040" class="ng-scope">Transradial access (TRA) has been proven to reduce the risk for major bleeding, vascular complications, and all-cause mortality, and to improve quality of life and reduce health care costs compared with femoral access.</p> <p id="hl0000041" class="ng-scope">Consequently, a “radial first” strategy is currently recommended by the European Society of Cardiology (ESC) and American professional societies as the default vascular access site for percutaneous cardiovascular catheterization [<span> </span><button class="j-inline-reference inline-reference" data-refid="bb0005" id="refInSitubb0005">1</button><span> </span>,<span> </span><button class="j-inline-reference inline-reference" data-refid="bb0010" id="refInSitubb0010">2</button><span> </span>].</p> <p id="hl0000044" class="ng-scope">The adoption of TRA has progressively increased over time worldwide. However, in up to 10% of patients, technical difficulties related to radial intervention can preclude the use or cause the failure of TRA, requiring crossover to alternative access [<span> </span><button class="j-inline-reference inline-reference" data-refid="bb0015" id="refInSitubb0015">3</button><span> </span>].</p>