A meta-study that reviews 11 previous works concludes that it is effective

There are patients who have had a deep venous thrombosis (DVT) or a pulmonary embolism (PE) who, due to risk of bleeding, cannot receive anticoagulant therapy.

Medicine then appeals to vena cava filters, a device that is placed inside this vein and avoids an embolus to release from the leg and to go into the lung, originating a pulmonary embolism.

Efficacy of these filters has been recently analyzed. Now, a new study of the RIETE group published in the Journal of the American College of Cardiology-Cardiovascular Interventions, sheds light on the benefit of these devices by observing the evolution of these patients with DVT or PE who despite the anticoagulant therapy, have a new episode of DVT or PE.

The study compared the benefit of introducing a vena cava filter in these cases with the benefit of increasing the anticoagulant dose.

Results confirmed that in those patients who, despite anticoagulation, had a new DVT episode, presence of the vena cava filter barely improved the situation when compared to the same patients treated only with anticoagulants.

However, in the case of patients who despite anticoagulation had a new PE, the risk of death was lower than in people with a vena cava filter.