Inferior vena cava filter placement for prevention of pulmonary thromboembolism: Case series from northwestern Nigeria

Abstract

Background: Inferior vena cava (IVC) filter placement is an image-guided procedure aimed at primarily preventing pulmonary  thromboembolism in patients with lower limb venous thromboembolic (VTE) disease. In Northern Nigeria with a relatively high incidence  of thromboembolic disease such as Deep vein thrombosis, reports on IVC filter placement are largely low. We report the feasibility of IVC  filter placement on eight patients for the first time in a typical low-resource setting in Northern Nigeria.

Case Presentations: We had an equal number of males and females of the eight patients. Their ages ranged from 20 to 80 years. Five  patients presented with bilateral lower limbs Deep vein thrombosis (DVT) of which one had a pulmonary embolism. Two other patients  had extensive left femoral DVT and one had extensive IVC, iliac, femoral, and popliteal veins thrombosis. The medical records of seven patients, who had IVC filter placement in our department, were reviewed. The IVC filter was deployed with the aid of a C-arm fluoroscopic  unit. In a single case, access was secured via an indwelling dialysis catheter.

Conclusions: All the patients had successful deployment with  satisfactory postprocedure conditions. The intended benefit of pulmonary embolism prevention was achieved in the series of  procedures that were performed. Indicating the value of IVC filter even in resource-poor settings and effort should be made towards exploring such intervention.