The complications and management of removing temporary and retrievable inferior vena cava filters / 中华普通外科杂志

ABSTRACT

Objective To study the complications related to and its management after retrieving temporary and retrievable IVC filters.Methods From Jul 2007 to Mar 2012,576 consecutive cases of deep venous thrombosis secondary to bone fractures confirmed by Duplex ultrasonography,received IVCF deployment to avoid fatal pulmonary embolism during perioperative period.There were 192 cases receiving temporary filters and 384 cases with retrievable filters.The temporary and retrievable filters were removed 2 to 4 weeks after implantation.Results The success rate of temporary filter removing was 100％.In 24 cases,the filters captured huge thrombi,and they were removed after thrombolysis using the Uni-fuse catheter.One patient received permanent filter deployment before removing the tempo-filter.Filters were successfully removed in 367 out of 384 cases with retrievable ones with a successful rate of 95.57％.In 7 cases the filters were removed with large thrombi.Double-snare-technique was used to retrieve 15 seriously tilted filters.After a mean 22 months follow-up,no pulmonary embolism occurred,but symptomatic DVT were revealed in 26 patients,and the conditions were improved after anticoagulation treatment.Conclusions The application of Uni-fuse thrombolysis catheter increases the success rate of filters retrieving,double-snare-technique helps retrieve seriously tilted filters and decrease long-term complications of permanent filters.