title: Experience with the Amplatz retrievable vena cava filter.
abstract: The Amplatz retrievable inferior vena cava filter was designed to be used as either a permanent indwelling filter or a short-term, percutaneously removable filter. The authors placed 52 filters in 52 patients. No deaths occurred as a result of filter placement or usage. Follow-up in 42 (81%) patients included inferior vena cavography (n = 31), computed tomography (n = 4), duplex ultrasound (n = 4), and autopsy (n = 3). Inferior vena cava thrombosis was found in seven (17.5%) of the 40 previously nonobstructed venae cavae studied. Two patients with caval thrombosis required a second filter to prevent embolization of thrombus that had extended to the lung side of the first filter. No clinically evident pulmonary emboli after filter placement have been noted. Six filters were successfully retrieved or repositioned percutaneously. The relatively high rate of caval thrombosis with extension above the filter may be due to a higher trapping efficiency or to filter geometry. The role of this filter in the treatment of deep venous thrombosis and pulmonary emboli is unclear.
authors.affiliation: Department of Radiology, University of Minnesota Hospital and Clinic, Minneapolis 55455.
authors.forename: D H
authors.initials: DH
authors.lastname: Epstein
authors.forename: M D
authors.initials: MD
authors.lastname: Darcy
authors.forename: D W
authors.initials: DW
authors.lastname: Hunter
authors.forename: C C
authors.initials: CC
authors.lastname: Coleman
authors.forename: S M
authors.initials: SM
authors.lastname: Tadavarthy
authors.forename: P D
authors.initials: PD
authors.lastname: Murray
authors.forename: W R
authors.initials: WR
authors.lastname: Castaneda-Zuniga
authors.forename: K
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Amplatz
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D005374:Filtration / Q000009:adverse effects / Q000295:instrumentation*; D006801:Humans; D008875:Middle Aged; D011655:Pulmonary Embolism / Q000517:prevention & control; D011859:Radiography; D014463:Ultrasonography; D014682:Vena Cava, Inferior / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging / Q000473:pathology