Pulmonary Embolism Support Group

By far the most common form of pulmonary embolism is a thromboembolism, which occurs when a blood clot, generally a venous thrombus, becomes dislodged from its site of formation and embolizes to the arterial blood supply of one of the lungs. Symptoms may include difficulty breathing, pain during breathing, and more rarely circulatory instability and death.

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Filter Removal?

AmyHar
AmyHar
I had my 6 week post-op appointment with my vascular surgeon yesterday. He said he wants to go in through my neck and remove my filter. I thought this was permanent. Has anyone gone through this?
More2be
More2be
Newer filters are meant to be removable, especially within a few days or weeks of placement. The best evidence gathered from the largest study groups suggests that keeping an IVC in situ increases the risk of recurring DVT, including at the filter itself, may somewhat mitigate the risk of PE, and does not improve overall mortality.

http://circ.ahajournals.org/cgi/content/short/112/3/416

Historically there has not been a long enough collective experience with IVC filters to get an arm around other long-term risks such as fracture or migration.

The more I read-up on long-term IVC filter retention the more I wanted it out, but the radiologist who put it in hid from his patients, refused to remove it when pressed by my PCP (the guy probably did not know how), and by the time I fought it a few months the window of removal had passed.
KHL
KHL
I found these links useful for filter removal...

http://stanfordhospital.org/newsEvents/newsReleases/2010/ivc-filter-removal-laser.html

http://stanfordhospital.org/profiles/frdActionServlet?choiceId=showClinicalTrial&&studyId=6416&fid=7234
deleted_user
deleted_user
I had my filter removed after 6 weeks. My removal was complicated since my filter wasn't placed properly and it had to come out no matter what. It couldn't be a permanent filter due to its positioning. I am very happy mine came out and that I do not have a permanent filter. The entire time I had it in me I felt uncomfortable with knowing it was there and not entirely deployed and on an angle. That's why I am glad to have had mine removed. The procedure wasn't bad, and I only spent a day in the hospital.