Radial artery puncture
Encyclopedia
Radial artery puncture is a medical procedure that is performed in order to obtain arterial blood
sampling for gas analysis
. A needle is inserted into the radial artery
and spontaneously fills with blood. The syringe that is used is prepacked and contains a small amount of heparin
, to prevent coagulation or needs to be heparinised, by drawing up a small amount of heparin and squirting it out again.
Blood
Blood is a specialized bodily fluid in animals that delivers necessary substances such as nutrients and oxygen to the cells and transports metabolic waste products away from those same cells....
sampling for gas analysis
Arterial blood gas
An arterial blood gas is a blood test that is performed using blood from an artery. It involves puncturing an artery with a thin needle and syringe and drawing a small volume of blood. The most common puncture site is the radial artery at the wrist, but sometimes the femoral artery in the groin or...
. A needle is inserted into the radial artery
Radial artery
In human anatomy, the radial artery is the main blood vessel, with oxygenated blood, of the lateral aspect of the forearm.-Course:The radial artery arises from the bifurcation of the brachial artery in the cubital fossa. It runs distally on the anterior part of the forearm...
and spontaneously fills with blood. The syringe that is used is prepacked and contains a small amount of heparin
Heparin
Heparin , also known as unfractionated heparin, a highly sulfated glycosaminoglycan, is widely used as an injectable anticoagulant, and has the highest negative charge density of any known biological molecule...
, to prevent coagulation or needs to be heparinised, by drawing up a small amount of heparin and squirting it out again.