Enhancing Guidewire Efficacy for Transradial Access

Central Coast Local Health District

Finalist: Health Research Award

The Enhancing Guidewire Efficacy for Transradial Access (EAGER) trial in the Central Coast Local Health District was designed to test whether heart procedures performed through the wrist (transradial access) could be streamlined and made more efficient by using a different guidewire to reach the heart.

Conducted across Gosford and John Hunter Hospitals, this landmark trial saw 330 patients randomly allocated to the conventional guidewire or an enhanced more adaptable device — the Baby J wire (1.5mm, hydrophilic narrow J-tip) — to see if there was a difference in outcomes.

Key findings:

• Procedures using the Baby J wire reduced failures from 16% to just 4%, meaning they were 73% less likely to fail compared with the standard wire.
• Women benefited most: with the standard wire, failure occurred in nearly 1 in 3 women (31%) compared with 1 in 12 men (8%). With the Baby J wire, women achieved the same high success rates as men.
• Painful radial artery spasm was cut by more than half — from 17% with the standard wire to 7% with the Baby J wire.
• Patients treated with the Baby J wire also spent 30% less time under X-ray, with no increase in complications or adverse events.

The EAGER trial shows that the Baby J wire is a safe and effective innovation that streamlines wrist-based heart procedures and helps remove long-standing disadvantages for women​.​