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. 1999 Sep;189(3):314-20.
doi: 10.1016/s1072-7515(99)00137-4.

Increased use of prophylactic vena cava filters in trauma patients failed to decrease overall incidence of pulmonary embolism

A L McMurtry  1 , J T Owings, J T Anderson, F D Battistella, R Gosselin
Affiliations

Increased use of prophylactic vena cava filters in trauma patients failed to decrease overall incidence of pulmonary embolism

A L McMurtry et al. J Am Coll Surg. 1999 Sep.

Abstract

Background: Recent studies have reported that placement of vena cava filters (VCFs) early after injury may decrease the incidence of pulmonary embolism (PE) in high-risk trauma patients.

Study design: This was a retrospective review of all trauma patients with placement of VCFs admitted to a single level-1 trauma center between 1989 and 1997. Two cohorts corresponding to years of high or low prophylactic VCF use (PVCF) were compared.

Results: Records were reviewed for 299 trauma patients identified as having had placement of a VCE Two hundred forty-eight filters were placed before the diagnosis of PE. During years of low PVCF use, the overall PE incidence was 0.31%; during years of high PVCF use, the incidence of PE was higher at 0.48% (p = 0.045, chi-square).

Conclusions: Increased use of PVCFs failed to decrease the overall rate of PE in our trauma patient population.

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