Despite the absence of any evidence demonstrating benefit or showing how best to use them, vena cava filters (VCF) are used in most hospitals. Now a new study published in JAMA Internal Medicine suggests that this same lack of evidence results in an extremely broad rate of use in different hospitals. An accompanying viewpoint raises the question: “how could a medical device be so well accepted without any evidence of efficacy?”
Researchers conducted a retrospective observational study that compared the frequency of VCF use in 236 California hospitals by analyzing data from 130,643 acute VTE hospitalizations over four years. Overall, the rate of VCF placement was 14.95%, but there was a very broad variation in the percentage of acute VTE cases in which a VCF was placed, from 0% to 38.96%. The authors said that this finding places VCF “among surgical procedures with the greatest variation in geographic studies in the United States.” Even after adjusting for differences in patient populations between hospitals, the variation between hospitals remained significant.
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English: Taken by user:BozMo URL at http://catesfamily.org.uk Picture of used inferior vena cava filter, showing the hook at top for removal via Jugular Vein, the umbrella structure and the leg spikes to fix in place. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)
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