IVC Filter 103

FDA recommends that if the patient's threat of pulmonary embolism has passed, an IVC filter should be retrieved between 29 and 54 days after implantation.
It's estimated that only 20% of the retrievable or optional filters are actually being removed from patients.
It's also estimated that 250,000 filters are being placed each year.
Some professionals say that the majority of IVC filters are being left in because doctors lose track of their IVC filter patients, fail to make a follow-up appointment with their patient or patients do not follow up on a timely appointment to have the filter assessed.

courtesy of Trial Exhibits, Inc.

Why aren't IVC filters being removed?
Dr. Daniel Link, Chief of Interventional and Vascular Radiology
21 minute video

Removing IVC Filter Strut Takes Expertise (article)
Dr. William Kuo, Director of Stanford IVC Filter Clinic

Sarah B. White, MD, Associate Professor of Radiology,
University Medical College of Wisconsin

S. William Stavropoulos, M.D, Professor of Radiology,
Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania

Brian G. DeRubertis, MD, Vascular Surgery,
David Geffen School of Medicine at UCLA, Los Angeles, California

Advanced Techniques for Complicated IVC Filter Retrievals
Dr. Kush Shah, Radiology Resident,
Jackson Memorial Hospital

Deepak Sudheendra, MD, Assistant Professor of Clinical Radiology & Surgery
Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania

Marie-France Giroux, MD
Vascular and Interventional Radiologist
Hospital Notre-Dame, University of Montreal

Matthew S. Johnson, MD, Professor of Radiology, Indiana University School of Medicine

Erin Murphy, MD, Vascular Surgery, The RANE Center at St. Dominic’s Hospital,
Jackson, Mississippi

Mark Garcia, MD, Interventional Radiology
Chief Medical Officer for Merit Medical Systems

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Part 1: IVC Filter 101 - DVT, PE and Anticoagulants