Royal Philips announced that the first patients have been successfully treated for Inferior Vena Cava (IVC) filter removal using its IVC Filter Removal Laser Sheath – CavaClear. CavaClear provides an effective, minimally invasive solution for embedded IVC filters, to help physicians reduce the risk of significant filter-related complications in patients and improve workflow performance. The first two patients were successfully treated at Northwestern Medicine (Chicago, IL) by Kush R. Desai, MD, FSIR, Associate Professor of Radiology, Surgery, and Medicine, and Director of Deep Venous Interventions, Division of Interventional Radiology at Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine, and at Stanford Hospital (Palo Alto, CA) by William T. Kuo, MD, FSIR, FCCP, FSVM, FACR, FCIRSE, Professor of Interventional Radiology and Director of the Stanford IVC Filter Clinic at Stanford University School of Medicine.

IVC filters are used to treat patients with venous thromboembolism, in which blood clots form in the deep veins of the leg and groin and can travel through the circulatory system. They are placed in the inferior vena cava to capture blood clots from moving to the lungs. However, research has shown that IVC filters may have long-term complications. The filters can fracture and travel through the bloodstream to other parts of the body. Other identified long-term risks associated with IVC filters include penetration into adjacent organs and IVC occlusion. The FDA recommends that implanting physicians consider removing retrievable IVC filters as soon as they are no longer indicated

CavaClear uses circumferential tissue ablation to aid in capturing the filter within seconds of laser activation, which can help increase procedural efficiency during removal and may help lower costs by reducing the number of retrieval attempts needed to remove an embedded filter. In addition, the simple and safe design is easy for physicians to integrate into their workflow and reduce the need for high-force retrievals that could increase the chance of a complication.

“Millions of patients have IVC filters that are no longer indicated, and CavaClear helps physicians experienced in IVC filter retrieval work towards the goal of safely removing such devices, in line with regulatory guidance,” said Dr. Kush R. Desai, MD. Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine and Stanford Hospital

Dr. Desai treated the first patient with CavaClear at Northwestern Medicine by removing an IVC filter that was placed over 6 months prior for deep vein thromboembolism. An attempt to retrieve the filter was made approximately 4 months post-implant at another institution, however, the procedure was unsuccessful and then referred to Dr. Desai. CavaClear was later successfully applied to quickly and safely free the embedded filter from the caval wall, enabling the patient to now be filter-free.