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Inferior Vena Cava Filters in the Asymptomatic Chronically Occluded Cava: To Remove or Not Remove?

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  • Venous Interventions
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Abstract

Risks of IVC filter insertion are numerous but include IVC stenosis or thrombosis and may result in caval occlusion. Acute IVC occlusion is almost always symptomatic, and treatment can be aggressive such as catheter-directed thrombolysis or conservative such as anticoagulation. The more challenging cohort of patients is those where there has been chronic complete occlusion of the IVC without symptoms, sometimes only identified at the time of routine filter retrieval. We explore the available evidence and discuss different management approaches in this circumstance ranging from aggressive to conservative. However, given that the overall incidence of filter-related complications is very low, at this stage we find no compelling evidence to support aggressive management without symptoms.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Radiology, Alfred Health, Alfred Hospital, 55 Commercial Road, Melbourne, VIC, 3004, Australia

    Warren Clements

  2. Department of Surgery, Monash University, Clayton, Australia

    Warren Clements

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  1. Warren Clements
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Correspondence to Warren Clements.

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Research without human participants was performed in accordance with our local HREC guidelines and the Helsinki Declaration.

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All procedures performed in studies involving human participants were in accordance with the ethical standards of the institutional and/or national research committee and with the 1964 Helsinki declaration and its later amendments or comparable ethical standards.

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Clements, W. Inferior Vena Cava Filters in the Asymptomatic Chronically Occluded Cava: To Remove or Not Remove?. Cardiovasc Intervent Radiol 42, 165–168 (2019). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00270-018-2077-y

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