Antegrade cannulation of radial artery in infants and children.

We describe the novel approach of antegrade radial artery cannulation in five pediatric patients after failure of standard retrograde cannulation by percutaneous and cutdown technique. This antegrade cannulation led to successful, reliable continuous blood pressure monitoring and arterial blood sampling without complications. We believe antegrade cannulation can be successfully used when radial arteries are obstructed and retrograde blood flow is observed during failed cutdown attempts at standard retrograde arterial cannulation.