Decreased bed rest post‐percutaneous coronary intervention with a 7‐French arterial sheath and its effects on vascular complications

Aims and objectives To compare the incidence of femoral access puncture site complications in the control group, who underwent 6 hr of bed rest, with patients in the case group, who underwent 4 hr of bed rest. Background The ideal bed rest length after percutaneous coronary intervention with a 7‐French arterial sheath has been investigated by nursing practice. However, in this larger‐sheath‐size group, best practices have not been determined, and bed rest time continues to vary markedly among institutions. Design Retrospective study. Methods Data were retrieved from the National Cardiovascular Data Registry and electronic health records in this retrospective study. Sample size was 401 patients: 152 case patients with 4‐hr bed rest and 249 controls with 6‐hr bed rest. Case group data were obtained from 20 May 2013–31 December 2014; and control group data, 15 June 2011–20 May 2013. Results National Cardiovascular Data Registry event rates were generally low in both groups: Only three patients in each group had a bleeding event within 72 hr (2% vs. 1%) and no patient and only two controls had arteriovenous fistula (0% vs. 1%). Complications documented in the electronic health records with institutional femoral access puncture site complication definitions identified bleeding at the access site in eight case patients (5%) and nine controls (4%). Haematoma at the access site occurred in 21 case patients (14%) and 25 controls (10%). Conclusions The practice change of decreasing bed rest from 6–4 hr for patients with 7‐French arterial sheaths post‐percutaneous coronary intervention was associated with no significant change in femoral access puncture site complications in either National Cardiovascular Data Registry data or institutional electronic health records data. Relevance to clinical practice This introduces expanded evidence of safety in decreasing bed rest length in larger (7‐French) arterial sheaths post‐percutaneous coronary intervention.