INTRODUCTION:
Indwelling arterial catheters are used routinely for continuous
haemodynamic monitoring and for obtaining repetitive blood samples
during major surgery and in critically ill patients. The radial artery
is the most common site for catheterisation. Major complications such as
ischaemic insult, sepsis and pseudoaneurysm formation are rare,
occurring in fewer than 1% of cases(1). We describe two cases of
patients undergoing major surgical and endovascular interventions in
which arterial catheterisation was associated with acute radial arterial
thrombosis and radial ischaemic neuropathy.