Anyways, I picked a really good day to return- it started with a resident lecture on vena cava filters, which I didn't know existed. The vena cavae are two veins that lead the body's deoxygenated blood into the heart, through the two chambers, and into the lungs for reoxygenation. The one focused on was the inferior vena cava (IVC), which segments into two veins that lead down the thorax and into the leg. The vena cava filters discussed here were created to treat venous thromboembolism (VTE), which is swelling caused by a blood clot (embolus). They're basically just stents used for keeping the vessels open and preventing blood from settling. The lecture talked a bit about their history and the different kinds of filters available today, but the most interesting part of it was how dangerous these things can be. Some filter installations have penetrated the IVC and leaked into other areas in the chest, while filter complications in one man's femoral artery resulted in his entire leg being amputated. In 2010, the FDA even ruled that they should be taken out if not necessary- and the doctors in the room definitely stood by that. I mean, would you want something called a Bird's Nest in your body? Because that's a real filter type, and it doesn't look fun (picture below). Luckily, these filters are only put into use when anticoagulants- drugs used to break up emboli- do not work, or aren't working well enough to prevent the patient from falling ill. Neat, right?
