Development of a Research Agenda for Inferior Vena Cava Filters: Proceedings from a Multidisciplinary Research Consensus Panel John A. Kaufman, MD, John H. Rundback, MD, Stephen T. Kee, MD, William Geerts, MD, FRCPC, David Gillespie, MD, Susan R. Kahn, MD, MSc, Clive Kearon, MD, FRCPC, MRCPI, PhD, John Rectenwald, MD, Frederick B. Rogers, MD, S. William Stavropoulos, MD, Michael Streiff, MD, Suresh Vedantham, MD, and Anthony Venbrux, MD J Vasc Interv Radiol 2009; 20:697–707 Abbreviations: DVT  deep vein thrombosis, IVC  inferior vena cava, LMWH  low molecular weight heparin, PE  pulmonary embolism, PREPIC  Prevention du Risque d’Embolie Pulmonaire par Interruption Cave (trial), PTS  postthrombotic syndrome, RCT  randomized controlled trial, VTE  venous thromboembolism VENA caval interruption is an important therapeutic option in the management of selected patients with venous thrombo- embolism (VTE). Currently, caval inter- ruption is accomplished by percutaneous image-guided insertion of a filtering de- vice into the vena cava. This widely avail- able procedure is employed in as many as 15% of patients with a diagnosis of deep vein thrombosis (DVT) (1). However, vena cava filter placement has not been studied with the same methodologic rigor that has been applied to the most com- mon treatment of VTE, anticoagulation ( 2,3). The majority of scientific publica- tions on filter use have reported retrospec- tive, noncontrolled studies, often from sin- gle institutions. To address the lack of level I data for inferior vena cava (IVC) filters, the Society of Interventional Radi- ology (SIR) Foundation convened a mul- tidisciplinary research consensus panel to develop an agenda for vena cava filter research in June 2007. This report summa- rizes the proceedings from that meeting. MEETING ORGANIZATION A meeting of a multidisciplinary group of physicians and researchers with expertise in IVC filters was con- vened in June 2007 by the Cooperative Alliance for Interventional Radiology Research (CAIRR), the clinical trials network of the SIR Foundation. The purpose of the meeting was to estab- lish and prioritize a research agenda for IVC filters that included preclin- ical and health technology research, pilot clinical studies, and pivotal multicenter clinical trials. An 11-member research consensus panel was created from a list of leading scientists developed by the Chair and the CAIRR Advisory Committee. The session was moderated by the CAIRR Network Chair. The panel included members from the fields of interven- tional radiology, surgery, and medicine. Representatives from industry and the federal government were also present as observers, as were other interested phy- sicians and researchers. Before the meeting, the panelists were given an agenda describing the structure and objectives of the session. The meeting was divided into four parts in accordance with the standard SIR Foundation pro- cess: (i) introductory presentations; (ii) moderated roundtable panel discussion followed by comments from industry and governmental representatives; (iii) re- search topic prioritization; and (iv) pre- liminary discussion regarding the devel- opment of a clinical research protocol. Nine of the panel participants (M.S., S.R.K., W.G., D.G., F.B.R., J.A.K., S.W.S., From the Dotter Interventional Institute (J.A.K.), Oregon Health and Science University, Mail Code L-605, 3181 Southwest Sam Jackson Park Road, Portland, OR 97239; Department of Vascular and Interventional Radiology (J.H.R.), Columbia Presbyterian Medical Center, New York, New York; UCLA Medical Center, Department of Radiology, Los Angeles, California (S.T.K.); Thromboem- bolism Program (W.G.), Sunnybrook Health Sciences Centre, Toronto; Clinical Thrombosis Service (C.K.), Mc- Master University and Henderson Research Centre, Hamilton, Ontario; Thrombosis Clinic and Centre for Clinical Epidemiology and Community Studies (S.R.K.), Sir Mortimer B. Davis Jewish General Hospital, Montreal, Quebec, Canada; Department of Surgery and Peripheral Vascular Surgery Service (D.G.), Walter Reed Army Medical Center, Washington, DC; Section of Vascular Surgery, Department of Surgery (J.R.), University of Michigan Cardiovascular Center, Ann Arbor, Michigan; Department of Surgery (F.B.R.), University of Vermont College of Medicine, Burlington, Vermont; Division of Interventional Radiology, Department of Radiology (S.W.S.), University of Pennsylvania Medical Center, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania; Department of Medicine (M.S.), Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore, Maryland; Mallinckrodt Institute of Radiology (S.V.), Washington University School of Medicine, St. Louis, Missouri; and Department of Radiology (A.V.), George Washington University Medical Center, Washington, DC. Received August 25, 2008; final revision received February 18, 2009; accepted March 2, 2009. Address correspondence to J.A.K.; E-mail: kaufmajo@ohsu.edu The SIR Foundation received financial support for the research meeting discussed herein from the fol- lowing companies: Bard Peripheral Vascular (Cov- ington, Georgia), B. Braun (Melsungen, Germany), Boston Scientific (Natick, Massachusetts), Cook (Bloomington, Indiana), and Cordis (Warren, New Jersey). None of the authors have identified a con- flict of interest. The views expressed in this article are those of the authors and do not necessarily re- flect the official policy or position of the Navy, De- partment of Defense, nor the U.S. Government. © SIR, 2009 DOI: 10.1016/j.jvir.2009.03.007 Special Communication 697