TeachableMedicalNews article 11152019

Teachable moment in classrooms:

  1. blood chapter – blood clot formation
  2. blood vessel chapter – direction of blood flow in veins
  3. heart chapter – pulmonary circulation
  4. respiratory system chapter – blood flow to alveoli for gas exchange

The news item: The medical device called “IVC filter” was in the consumer safety news recently:

IVC Filter Lawsuit | 2020 Updates and Settlements

If you experienced side effects from an IVC filter, you may be eligible for compensation. Get a free case review today at ConsumerSafety.org.

The article provided updates regarding lawsuits targeting the IVC filter. The article mentioned the purpose of the device which is to remove unwanted blood clots, and that the device as placed in the inferior vena cava.

So, Why Do I Care??  Unwanted blood clots can block blood vessels in the brain and cause strokes, or block blood vessels in the lungs and cause pulmonary embolism.  Both disorders are either deadly, or forever degrade a person’s quality of life.  There are  over 600,000 first stroke events and 180,000 pulmonary embolism event in the USA ever year.

Plain English, Please!!!  First, let’s talk about clot formation. Clotting of the blood is needed to plug up tiny breaks in our blood vessels, like putting a band aid on the break from the inside of the vessel.  However, blood clots can form when we don’t need them, and those “floating band aids” in our blood present the danger. We have medications called blood thinners to stop unwanted blood clot formation.  Some patients, however,  can not use blood thinners, so the blood filters were designed to remove blood clots in those conditions.

Second, let’s talk about the IVC filter.  This is a device that supposed to filter out unwanted blood clots.  As most unwanted blood clots form in the legs, stopping those blood clots from floating towards the heart and the lungs can be beneficial.  There is a very thick vein (your index and middle fingers put together), called the inferior vena cava (IVC) that runs for about 8 inches downward starting from the heart.  The IVC filter is a tent-shaped device made of several metal wires.  This tent is placed inside the IVC, and the blood clots, that are floating towards the heart, now stick to the metal wires, and stay in place until they are degraded.   The filter works OK, but, unfortunately, the wires sometime brake, and the  broken pieces cause damage to blood vessels and to the heart.  So, to answer the title question, it appears that despite all the best intentions, it wasn’t a good idea to place a filter inside a large blood vessel.

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