No I've not but that's a large clot. You should ask his doc why he wants to now remove it when he didn't before. It may be that it's not resolving the way they'd hoped which could be putting your husband at risk.

If his reasons sound suspicious, get a second opinion

Just a suggestion
This sounds like a very serious surgery ,,,,,in my life I learned to get a second and even third opinion on something like this even with my very Good doc she encouraged me to seek out other opinions if I wished too but always added she may not agree with them
still its my life and in this case your husband's life we are talking about here so if surgery is the thing I sure would seek out other medical opinions .....our life very worth second and even third opinions
just saying
Bear in Cincinnati

I haven't personally dealt with a clot there, but my grandmother had a massive clot that ran from just outside of her heart through the vena cava and into both legs. But, I'm sorry to say that her experience probably can't be much help to you since you're trying to decide what's best. Surgery was off the table pretty quickly for her because she was very sick and her heart already very weakened by that point. In her case she probably wouldn't have survived surgery, and even at best, she was still terminally ill, so there just wasn't any real reason to put her body through that and take the risk of cheating her of the time she did have left.

I would expect that since this is a surgery which is a really big deal, the doctor must have very good reason for wanting to do it. But I agree that you need to really question the doctor about his process behind the recommendations: what made him not want to do surgery in the beginning? What changed his mind? What are the risks and benefits to doing it? What are the risks and benefits to not doing it? At the end of the day, you and your husband will have to weigh all of that information and decide what you feel more comfortable with.

The first time that I had blood clots I was in a crisis with huge clots and pulmonary embolism and needed to decide what treatments to accept. And I didn't have time to consult multiple opinions, it all needed to be decided very quickly. But I went through the process I described above, asking my doctors the questions about why they felt certain procedures needed to be done and what would be the consequences and risks of either decision, and it allowed me to feel that I was in control of what was happening, and I felt good about the decisions I made. If you do have the time to get other opinions, then yes I would say by all means seek those out to get as much professional opinion and information as possible. But if you can't do that, then just learn as much as you can before either moving forward with surgery or rejecting surgery. It's not to say it will make the decision easy, but at least you know you did your best to make the best decision together, and you went in with your eyes open, whichever way you decide to go.

I'm so sorry that you and your husband are going through this, and I hope that all will turn out for the best, whatever your decision. And please let us know what you decide and how he's doing.

I would agree with rmb that they probably want to remove it now because it hasn't resolved with just blood thinners. I also agree about getting a second opinion. I have heard of people having clots removed from their inferior vena cava, but they were not put on a heart/lung machine to do it. These clots were removed by an interventional radiologist though and not a cardiologist. The IR's normally just go in through the groin, behind the knee or neck with a catheter to remove a clot. Not sure why your husband would need a heart/lung machine, but he may have issues that require it.

I have had a clot that big, but it was only as high as my iliac.

I do know a Cardiologist will perform some interventional procedures (my cardiologist who was treating my PEs inserted my vena cava filter for example) but I agree that having clots removed from that area wouldn't normally require being on a heart and lung machine unless there's some other stuff going on so I would definitely find out from his doc what specifically they are doing and why.

I had a vascular surgeon insert my vena cava filter and do my original anjiojetting too. Defiantly several different specialties go in to do clot removal and vein stuff.