IVC Filter (Inferior Vena Cava Filter)

An IVC filter is a small metal device, shaped like a cage or umbrella, that doctors place in the inferior vena cava, the large vein that carries blood from the lower body to the heart. It is meant to trap blood clots from the legs before they reach the lungs and cause a pulmonary embolism. Doctors mainly use filters for patients at risk of clots who cannot take blood thinners or for whom blood thinners have not worked.

Some filters are permanent, but many are retrievable and meant to come out once the danger has passed. In 2014 the FDA issued a safety communication, based on adverse event reports, recommending that implanting physicians consider removing retrievable filters as soon as clots are no longer a risk for the patient. Filters left in place too long can become embedded in the vein wall, tilt, fracture, move to the heart or lungs, or puncture the vein, and embedded filters can be hard to remove. In December 2021 the FDA authorized a laser-based device to help remove filters when standard methods fail.

Thousands of people have sued filter makers, alleging certain designs were prone to fracture and migration and that warnings were inadequate. Federal cases against C.R. Bard and Cook Medical were each consolidated in their own multidistrict litigations. Claims usually depend on records showing the brand and model implanted, imaging of the complication, and any removal surgery.

Bard also makes implanted port catheters that face similar allegations; see the Bard port catheter lawsuit. For how device cases are grouped, read what an MDL is, and see the pulmonary embolism entry for the condition filters are meant to prevent.