Keywords:
Veins / Vena cava, Interventional vascular, Catheter venography, CT-Angiography, Ultrasound, Filter insertions, Removal, Contrast agent-intravenous, Embolism / Thrombosis
Authors:
R. Motta, M. Santi, F. Zavan, G. Barbiero, C. Mattolin, D. Miotto; Padua/IT
DOI:
10.1594/ecr2018/C-1717
Aims and objectives
In the last decades,
the use of inferior vena cava filters (IVCF) has constantly increased [1],
mainly because of the introduction and increasing application of retrievable devices [2].
Even if anticoagulation (Ac) is the first-line therapy for venous thromboembolism (VTE),
in some patients this treatment is contraindicated and IVCF represents a valid alternative to prevent life-threatening pulmonary embolism (PE).
A constant evolution of filters’ design and material has led to an increase in the use of such devices.
Nevertheless,
there is still uncertainty about the correct indications for filters’ placement and management.
Indeed,
the international guidelines are continuously revised and,
since randomized clinical trials independently comparing the effectiveness of anticoagulant therapy with IVCF are still missing,
a wide consensus about the recommended applications of IVCF [3-4] has not been reached yet.
It has also to be taken into account that in 2014 the US Food and Drug Administration published the final safety communication [5] regarding the high rate of complications in patients with IVCF and the low rate of removal of the retrievable ones,
based on publicly available data from the medical literature and then resumed in the decision analysis [6].
Therefore,
considering all the above-mentioned uncertainties still associated with the application of IVCF,
the aim of our study was to perform a retrospective analysis about the use of IVCF,
in particular retrievable ones,
in the hospitals of Padua (Italy).