Do vena caval filters prevent pulmonary embolism in high-risk patients with proximal deep-vein thrombosis?
In high-risk patients with proximal DVT, vena caval filters reduce initial pulmonary embolism risk but increase recurrent DVT risk without a mortality benefit.
In high-risk patients with proximal deep-vein thrombosis, the initial beneficial effect of vena caval filters for the prevention of pulmonary embolism was counterbalanced by an excess of recurrent deep-vein thrombosis, without any difference in mortality. Our data also confirmed that low-molecular-weight heparin was as effective and safe as unfractionated heparin for the prevention of pulmonary embolism.
Decousus et al. (Thu,) studied this question.