title: Clinical outcomes and causes of death in Japanese patients with long-term inferior vena cava filter implants and deep vein thrombosis.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  We assessed the causes of death and efficacy of permanent inferior vena cava (IVC) filters for preventing new pulmonary embolisms (PE) in Japanese deep vein thrombosis (DVT) patients with or without PE.
  
  
  METHODS
  We studied the clinical outcomes during the follow-up period of 1 day to 9 years (median: 18 months; mean: 28 months) in 66 of 72 consecutive patients (44 with acute PE, 27 with intrapelvic DVT, and 1 with floating femoral vein thrombosis). Fifty of 66 patients received anticoagulant therapy after the filter placement.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Five patients died within 1 month (median 9 days) after the filter placement: three from recurrence of PE, one from cancer, and one from sepsis. Two of the three patients with recurrence of PE had preexisting intracardiac thrombi in the right atrium or main pulmonary artery before filter implantation. Ten patients died from the underlying disease (cancer: 7; brain hemorrhage: 1; amyotrophic lateral sclerosis: 1; pneumonia: 1) over 1 month after the filter placement (median follow-up period: 21 months). No new symptomatic PE recurrence was observed over 1 month after the filter placement. The 61 patients with long-term follow-up had no deterioration of DVT, and all the 31 patients who underwent multi-slice computed tomography showed no PE recurrence or filter thrombus occlusion, fracture, or migration.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Underlying diseases and preexisting intracardiac thrombi may be the determining factors for the prognosis of DVT patients. Permanent IVC filters with anticoagulant therapy may be effective for preventing death from new PE in Japanese DVT patients.
authors.affiliation: Department of Cardiology, Hiroshima Prefectural Hospital, Hiroshima, Japan; Department of Cardiovascular Medicine, Hiroshima University Graduate School of Biomedical Sciences, Hiroshima, Japan. Electronic address: d103150@hiroshima-u.ac.jp.
authors.forename: Yumiko
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Iwamoto
authors.affiliation: Department of Cardiology, Hiroshima Prefectural Hospital, Hiroshima, Japan.
authors.forename: Mitsunori
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Okamoto
authors.affiliation: Department of Cardiology, Hiroshima Prefectural Hospital, Hiroshima, Japan.
authors.forename: Masaki
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Hashimoto
authors.affiliation: Department of Cardiology, Hiroshima Prefectural Hospital, Hiroshima, Japan.
authors.forename: Yukihiro
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Fukuda
authors.affiliation: Department of Cardiology, Hiroshima Prefectural Hospital, Hiroshima, Japan.
authors.forename: Yuko
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Uchimura
authors.affiliation: Department of Cardiology, Hiroshima Prefectural Hospital, Hiroshima, Japan.
authors.forename: Akimichi
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Iwamoto
authors.affiliation: Department of Cardiology, Hiroshima Prefectural Hospital, Hiroshima, Japan.
authors.forename: Takeshi
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Matsumoto
authors.affiliation: Department of Cardiology, Hiroshima Prefectural Hospital, Hiroshima, Japan.
authors.forename: Toshitaka
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Iwasaki
authors.affiliation: Department of Cardiology, Hiroshima Prefectural Hospital, Hiroshima, Japan.
authors.forename: Hiroki
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Kinoshita
authors.affiliation: Department of Cardiology, Hiroshima Prefectural Hospital, Hiroshima, Japan.
authors.forename: Hironori
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Ueda
authors.affiliation: Department of Cardiovascular Medicine, Hiroshima University Graduate School of Biomedical Sciences, Hiroshima, Japan.
authors.forename: Yasuki
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Kihara
mesh_terms: D000368:Aged; D000925:Anticoagulants / Q000627:therapeutic use; D002423:Cause of Death; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007564:Japan; D008297:Male; D011655:Pulmonary Embolism / Q000517:prevention & control*; D012008:Recurrence; D016306:Vena Cava Filters; D020246:Venous Thrombosis / Q000150:complications / Q000628:therapy*
chemical_list: D000925:Anticoagulants
keywords: Pulmonary embolism; Thromboembolism; Thrombosis