IVC Filter Placement & Removal

A recent national cohort study of Medicare beneficiaries with pulmonary embolism (PE) as their principal discharge diagnosis found that placement of inferior vena cava filters (IVCFs) rose significantly from 1999 to 2010 — from 19.0 to 32.5 per 100,000 beneficiary-years.

As most of the IVCFs placed today are retrievable, the authors suggested that availability of retrievable filters might have made IVCFs “more palatable” to referring physicians and thus contributed to their growing use.

At the same time, no mortality benefit for IVCFs has been established in randomized trials, and the new cohort study found that mortality associated with PE hospitalization declined over the study period regardless of whether patients had an IVCF placed. However, many leading institutions, including Cleveland Clinic, continue to implant the filters.

Get expert Dr. Sai Ravi Shanker,IVC Filter Placement & Removal Treatment in Hyderabad with the best heart specialists, Quick diagnosis, and advanced care.

Symptoms

When this happens, you can also call it superior vena cava syndrome or inferior vena cava syndrome, depending on which part of the vena cava has a blockage. Causes of these obstructions include:

• A tumor, like lung cancer or another type of cancer, that has spread.
• Blood clots, sometimes from central venous catheters or pacemakers in the superior vena cava.
• A congenital malformation (something that didn’t form right in the uterus).
• Swelling in your upper body.
• Shortness of breath.
• Angina.
• Swelling in your legs.
• Back pain.
• Weight gain.
• Severe leg pain.

If you have a deep vein thrombosis (DVT) with a risk of the blood clot going from your legs or pelvis to your lung (pulmonary embolism), your healthcare provider may put in a vena cava filter to catch blood clots and keep them from going to your lungs.

Explore More : Acute Coronary Syndrome (ACS)