Doctors May Use IVC Filters More Often Now That Laser Removal Is An Option

The FDA recommends that the device be left in place no longer than 30 days to avoid life-threatening complications

Monday, January 10, 2022 - It is expected that the number of IVC filter implants will increase dramatically now that surgeons have been given the green light by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) to use laser technology to extract the device. Surgeons may be more confident in their ability to retrieve the device without breaking it into irretrievable pieces. According to the Phillips Inc., website, "Philips IVC Filter Removal Laser Sheath -- CavaClear -- is intended to safely ablate tissue to remove embedded IVC filters." The CavaClear was designated as a breakthrough medical device and rushed to market to try and help the thousands of IVC filter patients whose device has become encapsulated in scar tissue and beyond removal. Hundreds of patients whose life is threatened or the loved ones of those who have died have filed IVC filter lawsuits seeking reimbursement of medical expenses, lost wages, and pain and suffering. Lawsuits allege the filter breaks apart during the retrieval process because more force must be used to pull it from the artery due to scarring. Lawsuits allege negligence and an inherent device design failure, on the part of Bard, the maker of the IVC filter.

Many surgeons may have shied away from implanting the device because of the BardIVC filter complications that can occur if the filter is left in place too long and becomes encapsulated in scar tissue, tilt, break, and migrate to the vital organs and become embedded there. The FDA last month approved Phillips to begin marketing their IVC filter laser removal system to surgeons that use the filters in certain situations. IVC filters can be the solution to blood clots reaching the heart lungs or brain in incidences after surgery and after a traumatic injury when blood clots usually occur. IVC filters are used to treat venous thromboembolism, the third leading cause of heart-related deaths behind heart attacks and strokes. Venous thromboembolism may result in deep vein thrombosis (DVT) or pulmonary embolism. Deep vein thrombosis is when blood clots form in the deep veins and travel to the heart and pulmonary embolism refers to a clot traveling to the lungs. Both situations are life-threatening and surgeons may opt to use an IVC filter to trap excessive blood clots. No one is questioning the efficacy of using an IVC filter to trap blood clots as the spider-like contraption works well. Up until the advent of laser technology, surgeons were forced to leave the device in place rather than perform major surgery to cut the device out from the artery. Lasers now allow surgeons to cut and cauterize the scar tissue to extract the device more safely.

In describing their new laser IVC filter retrieval technology Phillips echoed the concerns of plaintiffs who I have been injured by the irretrievable medical device. "Failure rates for IVC filter removal can be high and prior to CavaClear, limited options for removal existed if the filter became difficult to remove. Advanced retrieval tools and techniques are required if the IVC filter becomes embedded in the vasculature. Physicians previously had very few tools to remove the filter when complications occurred and until now there were no FDA-approved devices for this type of advanced removal,"">

More Recent IVC Filter Lawsuit News:

• Scientific Authors Agree That IVC Filters May Have Been Overused In Anticipation of Blood Clots Occurring | 2/26/2022
• IVC Filter Use Has Skyrocketed And So Have Patient Complaints | 2/22/2022
• IVC Filter Removal Continues To Generate Controversy In Medical Circles | 2/12/2022
• Pulmonary Embolism Kills Over 100,000 People Each Year Hospitalized With Traumatic Injury | 2/7/2022
• Bard Faces Thousands Of IVC Filter Lawsuits Over The Product's Unique Inherent Design Defects | 2/2/2022
• Stanford's Dr. Kuo Has Helped Pioneer Advanced IVC Filter Laser Retrieval | 1/28/2022
• Doctors Struggle With Deciding When Is The Optimal Time To Remove A Patient's IVC Filter | 1/14/2022
• IVC Filter Lasers Highlights Focus Attention On Removal Complications | 1/4/2022
• IVC Filter Retrieval Complications Have Been Known For Years | 12/30/2021
• Lasers May Now Enable Doctors To Safely Retrieve Embedded IVC Filters | 12/22/2021
• IVC Filters May Do Nothing To Prevent Death Or Pulmonary Embolism For Trauma Patients | 12/16/2021
• IVC Filters Can Help Save The Lives Of Young People That Experience Multiple Sudden Blood Clots | 12/1/2021
• The FDA Recommends That An IVC Filter Stay In Place No Longer Than Two Months | 11/26/2021
• Bard Sales Reps, Surgeons, And Even The FDA All Looked The Other Way And Failed To Warn IVC Filter Patients | 11/18/2021
• Patients Should Know Of All Of The Risks Of Having An IVC Filter Implanted To Trap Blood Clots | 11/12/2021
• Ozone Cleaning Products Are Not FDA Approved And May Be Responsible For CPAP Foam Insulation Breakdown | 11/12/2021
• Blood Clot Patients Chest Pain Patients Are Talking To IVC Filter Lawyers About Holding Bard Accountable | 11/5/2021
• The IVC Filter Is Substantially Similar To The Faulty And Defective Essure Birth Control Device | 11/1/2021
• The Food And Drug Administration Has Been Warning Surgeons About The IVC Filters Design Flaws For More Than A decade | 10/28/2021
• IVC Filter Heart Pain Could Be From The Device Having Fractured Into Pieces | 10/25/2021
• Bellwether Bard IVC Filter Lawsuit Highlights The Design Flaws | 10/20/2021
• IVC Filters Could Be Unnecessary If A Person Leads A Healthy Lifestyle | 10/15/2021
• The EPA's Farm Flagger Ban Came Decades Too Late for Thousands of Farm Workers Who Now Have Parkinson's disease | 10/12/2021
• Bard IVC Filters May Tilt, Migrate and Perforate The Artery Where They Were Implanted | 10/11/2021
• A Report Published In 2006 Documented IVC Filter Catastrophies | 10/5/2021
• Medical Safety Groups Call For The End of the FDA Fast-Track Medical Device Approval Process | 9/30/2021
• IVC Filters May Not Be Needed And Offer No Reduction In Mortality | 9/27/2021
• IVC Filters Are Implanted As A Last Resort And Left In Place Only If Blood Clotting Continues And There Is No Alternative | 9/24/2021
• IVC Filters Are A Bad Idea Fraught With Life-Threating Complications | 9/20/2021
• Doctors May Consider Vitamin K Anti-Coagulant Therapy Before Recommending IVC Filters | 9/15/2021
• Surgeons May Not Be Able To Retreive the Bard IVC Filter After Two or Three Months | 9/11/2021
• A High Failure Rate For IVC Filter Removal Can Be Expected And Surgeons Should Prepare For The Worse | 9/7/2021
• Thousands Of IVC Filters May Eventually Experience Catastrophic Failure | 9/2/2021
• Most Bard IVC Filters are Doomed To Failure and Surgeons Would Never Attempt To Retrieve It | 8/31/2021
• A California Jury Finds The Bard IVC Filter Is Negligently Designed | 8/27/2021
• Scar Tissue Build Up After 60 Days May Prevent Safe Bard IVC Filter Removal | 8/23/2021
• IVC Filter Removal Requires Using Force When Trapped In Place By Scar Tissue | 8/19/2021
• Bard IVC Filters Have Caused Severe Damage More Than 10% Of The Time | 8/14/2021
• A Fourth Jury Finds Bard IVC Filters Defective | 8/10/2021
• Patients With IVC Filters Should Contact Their Physicians Immediately | 12/21/2018
• Lawsuits Filed Across Wide Variety of IVC Filter Manufacturers | 12/18/2018
• IVC Filter Patients May Be Eligible to File A Claim Against CR Bard | 12/13/2018
• IVC Filter Manufacturers Profit When Patients Misinformed | 12/10/2018
• IVC Filter Litigation is Growing Every Day | 12/7/2018
• Doctors May Be Neglecting IVC Filter Device Patients | 12/4/2018
• CR Bard Forced To Compensate Injured IVC Filter Patients | 11/27/2018
• Judge Confirms IVC Filter Malfunction and Punitive Damages Award | 8/31/2018
• Bellwether Trials Underway For Bard IVC Filters | 8/29/2018
• The Bard IVC Filter May Not Have Been Adequately Tested | 8/27/2018

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