CAVOGRAPHY FOLLOWING PLICATION OF THE INFERIOR VENA CAVA

¹ Assistant Professor of Radiology, Johns Hopkins University and Radiologist, The Johns Hopkins Hospital
² BALTIMORE, MARYLAND

Vena cavographies were performed on 22 patients following compartmentalization of the inferior vena cava. Various

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roentgenographic appearances of the vena cava following plication were demonstrated. Twelve of the patients examined were

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found to have patency of the plication site, whereas 10 were found to have complete thrombosis following the surgical procedrue. There was poor correlation between clinical and roentgenographic findings, and accurate clinical assessment of the status of the vena cava could not be established prior to the performance of vena cavography.

Evidence of pulmonary embolization was present postoperatively in 7 of the 22 cases and these included 1 case of fatal pulmonary embolus which occurred after ligation of the vena cava. Six of the postoperative pulmonary embolization patients were found to have patency of the plication, and in 2 there was suggestion of partial or complete breakdown of the plication site.

Plication of the vena cava does not appear to be the final solution as regards the problem of pulmonary embolization.

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