title: Outcome of patients with advanced neoplastic disease receiving vena caval filters.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  The authors examined the appropriateness and outcome of inferior vena caval (IVC) filter placements in patients with advanced malignancies and limited expected survival.
  
  
  METHODS
  Over a 35-month period, 35 IVC filters were inserted in 34 adult patients with advanced neoplasms. Follow-up was as long as 28 months (mean, 5.2 months). Filter effectiveness, complications, recurrent pulmonary emboli, patient survival, and hospital discharge status were recorded.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Twenty-eight patients (82%) were discharged home (n = 21) or to nursing facilities (n = 7) between 1 and 193 days (mean, 23 days) after filter insertion. Six patient (18%) died during hospitalization 1-95 days after filter insertion. The overall mean survival was 6.6 months; for patients with stage III and IV tumors mean survival was 8.0 and 5.5 months, respectively. Even among patients with stage IV disease, 59% survived longer than 3 months. There were no complications related to filter insertion and no clinical evidence of recurrent pulmonary emboli. In 14% of patients, filters enabled invasive therapeutic and palliative procedures to be performed.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  The presence of advanced neoplastic disease by itself should not be a deterrent to insertion of IVC filters, as most patients survived well beyond initial hospitalization.
authors.affiliation: Department of Radiology, Georgetown University Hospital, Washington, DC 20007, USA.
authors.forename: S V
authors.initials: SV
authors.lastname: Lossef
authors.forename: K H
authors.initials: KH
authors.lastname: Barth
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D005260:Female; D005500:Follow-Up Studies; D006801:Humans; D015993:Life Tables; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D009367:Neoplasm Staging; D009369:Neoplasms / Q000150:complications*; D009360:Neoplastic Cells, Circulating / Q000473:pathology; D010166:Palliative Care; D010351:Patient Discharge; D011655:Pulmonary Embolism / Q000517:prevention & control; D012008:Recurrence; D012189:Retrospective Studies; D015996:Survival Rate; D013924:Thrombophlebitis / Q000517:prevention & control; D016896:Treatment Outcome; D016306:Vena Cava Filters; D014682:Vena Cava, Inferior