A method of removing an implanted vessel filter by a femoral approach comprising the steps of providing a catheter with a curved tip, inserting a straightening device into the catheter to move the catheter tip from a curved position to a more straightened position, advancing the catheter tip through the femoral vein and past a cranial end of the filter, withdrawing the straightening device to enable the catheter tip to return to the curved condition, and inserting a filter grasping device though the catheter and a curved catheter tip to exit a distal portion to grasp the filter.
1. A vessel filter comprising a first region at a cranial end and a second region at a caudal end, the filter movable between a collapsed position for delivery to a vessel and an expanded position for placement within the vessel, the first region having a filter portion having a plurality of spaced apart elongated struts, a retrieval structure positioned at the cranial end of the filter, the second region being flared in the expanded position to have a transverse dimension increasing toward the caudal end, the second region including a plurality of vessel engaging hooks, each of the hooks having an elongated heel portion and a vessel penetrating portion, the elongated heel portion extending further from the cranial end than the penetrating portion, in the collapsed position of the filter the elongated heel portion of one hook is nested within a radially spaced adjacent hook of an adjacent strut to form a nested position, and in the expanded position the elongated heel portion moves away from the nested position so it is no longer in the nested position.
2. The vessel filter of claim 1 , wherein the second region includes a plurality of struts, and the plurality of struts terminate in the vessel engaging hooks.
3. The vessel filter of claim 1 , wherein each of the vessel engaging hooks has a curved end surface.
4. The vessel filter of claim 2 , wherein the struts of the second region have a longitudinal axis, and the elongated heel portion extends at an angle to the longitudinal axis.
5. The vessel filter of claim 1 , wherein the vessel penetrating portion of the vessel engaging hooks has a pointed tip extending in a cranial direction.
6. The vessel filter of claim 1 , wherein the filter is formed from a laser cut tube and composed of shape memory material.
7. The vessel filter of claim 1 , wherein the retrieval structure includes a hook offset from a longitudinal axis of the filter.
8. The vessel filter of claim 1 , wherein the penetrating portion of each of the vessel engaging hooks includes a penetrating tip extending in a direction opposite to the direction the elongated heel portion extends.
9. The vessel filter of claim 1 , wherein the struts have an elongated portion transitioning into a curved region and in the collapsed position the elongated heel portion of an adjacent vessel engaging hook extends along the elongated portion.
10. The vessel filter of claim 1 , wherein the plurality of vessel engaging hooks comprises a first set of hooks and a second set of hooks, the first set of hooks terminating at a more cranial position than the second set of hooks.
11. A vessel filter comprising a body made from a single tube, the tube cut to create a plurality of elongated struts forming a filter region and a mounting region, the mounting region including a plurality of vessel engaging hooks, each of the vessel engaging hooks having a curved concave region, a penetrating tip pointing in a direction toward the filter region, and an elongated heel extending beyond the penetrating tip in a direction away from the filtering region, the filter movable between a collapsed position for delivery and an expanded position for placement, in the collapsed position the elongated heel of one vessel engaging hook of the plurality of vessel engaging hooks is closer to a cranial end of the filter than the elongated heel of an adjacent vessel engaging hook of the plurality of vessel engaging hooks, and a first strut of the plurality of struts has a first transverse dimension and a second reduced transverse dimension portion cranially of the concave region and caudally of the first transverse dimension, wherein the second reduced transverse dimension of the first strut accommodates the elongated heel of the vessel engaging hook of a second strut adjacent the first strut.
12. The vessel filter of claim 11 , wherein the elongated heel of each of the vessel engaging hooks terminates in a curved surface.
13. The vessel filter of claim 11 , wherein in the collapsed position the penetrating tip of the one vessel engaging hook overlaps the elongated heel of the adjacent vessel engaging hook.
14. The vessel filter of claim 11 , wherein the elongated heel of each of the vessel engaging hooks extends at an angle to a longitudinal axis of a strut and is at a terminal end of the strut.
15. The vessel filter of claim 11 , wherein the plurality of vessel engaging hooks comprises a first set of hooks and a second set of hooks, the first set of hooks terminating at a more cranial position than the second set of hooks.
16. The vessel filter of claim 15 , wherein each vessel engaging hook of the first set of hooks is nested within a respective vessel engaging hook of the second set of hooks to form a nested position in the collapsed position of the filter.
17. The vessel filter of claim 11 , wherein the penetrating tip of a first hook of the vessel engaging hooks terminates more cranial than the penetrating tip of an adjacent hook of the vessel engaging hooks.
18. The vessel filter of claim 11 , wherein the plurality of vessel engaging hooks comprises a first set of hooks and a second set of hooks, and a height dimension of each of the vessel engaging hooks of the first set of hooks exceeds a height dimension of each of the engaging hooks of the second set of hooks.
19. The vessel filter of claim 16 , wherein the first set of hooks moves out of the nested position upon movement of the filter from the collapsed position to the expanded position of the filter.