A new design of the retrievable vena cava filter

Retrievable vena cava filters are invented to minimize surgical traumas to patients. However, in reality the deployed filter may firmly adhere to the vena cava due to tissue in-growth into the filter, which will breach the original concept of retrieving the filter by minimal invasive surgery. We hypothesize that if we can invent a filter with a part of supporting feet that is made of biodegradable materials and can be detached from the main body of the filter during the filter retrieval, the retrieval damage problem to the vena cava might be solved.