Retrievable varieties of inferior vena cava (IVC) filters have come under scrutiny for breaking and moving once inside of patients.
This can cause serious, potentially life threatening injuries, such as perforation of the inferior vena cava.
If these filters fracture or break, organs, including the lungs and heart, can become punctured as well.
When this filter fails, patients may report bleeding, severe pain, embolisms, and other various types of potentially fatal complications.
Inferior vena cava filters are installed in the inferior vena cava of patients who suffer with deep vein thrombosis in the legs, in an effort to prevent blood clots from breaking off and migrating to the brain, heart, or lungs.
There are two versions of IVC filters: retrievable, which means they can be removed when the risk of an embolism is no longer present; and permanent.
The majority of these filters used today are permanent; however it is the retrievable filters that pose the most threat for complications.
Inferior vena cava filters that are of the retrievable nature have been linked to a number of reports of migration and fracturing.
The broken pieces of the filter tend to flow to the lungs and heart of the patients.
That being said, smaller broken pieces can also flow to other organs, and once the metal pieces from the filter have reached organs, the heart, or the lungs, bleeding, serious pain, embolisms, and other serious complications can result.
In August of 2010, after receiving over nine hundred reports of complications involving IVC filters, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) issued an advisory regarding the product.
The reports received were categorized as follows: fifty six reports of fractures of the filter; seventy reports of perforations of the inferior vena cava; one hundred and forty six reports of embolisms, and three hundred and twenty eight reports of migration of the filters.
The alert issued by the FDA stated that the complications seen were related to retrievable versions of the filters being left for long stretches of time in the body, even well after the risk of embolism had passed.
The FDA recommended that doctors who are using the filters and treating patients in this situation consider removing the filter as soon as the risk of blood clots has subsided.
If you or someone you know was injured because of an inferior vena cava filter, you should understand that you have valuable legal rights, and you may be able to seek compensation for your injuries.
A personal injury attorney who specializes in defective medical devices or product liability can help you with every aspect of your case, from start to finish.
These legal professionals are quite skilled in this area of the law and will manage your claim to provide the best possible outcome.
If the situation with complications from IVC filters was not bad enough, what is worse is that there is evidence that these filters were known to have issues from the very beginning, and that a number of studies published in various medical journals illustrated a high rate of failure for the product.
According to several studies, the retrievable IVC filters were susceptible to breaking and fracturing, thus leading to migration.
The broken pieces of the filters commonly traveled to the lungs and hearts of the patients, as well as a number of other organs.
Once the broken metal pieces reached these areas, serious complications and injuries such as pain, bleeding, and embolisms occurred.
A study that was published in November of 2008 in the Journal of Vascular and Interventional Radiology found that the rate of this happening with retrievable inferior vena cava filters was alarming.
The study contacted all fourteen patients who received this type of filter at one particular facility to consult with them and evaluate their device by means of non contrast computed tomography.
The images that were collected from these patients found filter arm perforations in all of the fourteen individuals, as well as four fractures with migration in twenty one percent of the patients.
Because of early issues with other versions of retrievable inferior vena cava filters, the device was actually pulled from the market for use in 2005.
In an effort to fix the issues, a second generation filter system was designed and released to the market at a later date.
While this idea was good in theory, studies found that the second generation devices were just as prone to breaking and migrating as the original version.
When it is found that the inferior vena cava filter has failed, patients have to have a subsequent surgery to remove the device as well as collect the pieces that have broken off.
In some cases, physicians may find it is just too risky to try to remove the broken pieces, as further serious injuries or death may result.
Some signals that an inferior vena cava filter has failed include difficulty breathing, shortness of breath, and pain in the chest.
Most of the time, patients in this situation find themselves in the emergency room where CT scans and other diagnostic testing is done to determine if the filter has in fact malfunctioned.
Some of the serious and most potentially fatal complications include: pulmonary embolism; vessels, organs, or tissues being perforated; chronic anxiety or fear due to the fact that metal pieces have broken off and are in the organs; continual pain in the chest, heart, or other area; respiratory complications; hemorrhages; and death.
A personal injury attorney can help you to pursue a claim against the manufacturer for your injuries to include compensation for past, present, and future medical expenses, loss of incomes, loss of quality of life, pain and suffering, and in some cases for punitive damages.
If you have lost a loved one due to complications following an inferior vena cava filter being implanted, you may also be able to file a wrongful death claim on behalf of the decedent.
While a personal injury attorney cannot undo the harm that has been done, he or she can hold the manufacturer accountable for their actions.