Our team are experts of IVC filters and have published extensively and presented at national meetings on the placement, design, and removal of IVC filters. Our team uses the most current advanced techniques to attempt retrieval of IVC filters.
IVC Filters:
Although the primary therapy for patients with a deep venous thrombosis (DVT) of their leg is blood thinners, those patients that cannot receive blood thinners may require an IVC filter. The filter is a device that is placed either temporarily or permanently within the inferior vena cava, a blood vessel that collects the blood from the legs and brings it to the heart and lungs. The filter acts as a sieve to protect the patient from clots that may otherwise pass to the heart and lungs. Blood clots that travel to the lungs, known as a pulmonary embolism, can be life-threatening.
Both optionally retrievable and permanent filters are placed. The type of filter placed is dependent upon several factors, including the patient’s ability to eventually tolerate blood thinners as well as the length of time the risk for blood clots is present. Once a patient is able to tolerate blood thinners, an optionally retrievable type of IVC filter may be removed.