BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE Right-to-left shunt (RLS) via the patent foramen ovale is an important cause of cryptogenic stroke. The Valsalva maneuver provokes or enhances RLS, but RLS can also occur during normal respiration. This study examined whether the ischemic lesion pattern differs depending on the character of RLS. METHODS All consecutive patients with a patent foramen ovale (diagnosed by ...

Venous gas embolism (VGE) is reported with decompression to a decreased ambient pressure. With severe decompression, or in cases where an intracardiac septal defect (patent foramen ovale) exists, the venous bubbles can become arterialized and cause neurological decompression illness. Incidence rates of patent foramen ovale in the general population range from 25-34% and yet aviators, astronauts...

A 73 year old woman presented with impaired consciousness after 3 days of uneventful recovery from surgery for rectal cancer. The patient became comatose, and her blood pressure dropped to 70 mm Hg. The total parenteral nutrition infusion line into the right subclavian vein had been disconnected temporarily and by accident just before the episode. Cerebral CT showed branch-like structures with ...

BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE Deep vein thrombosis and pulmonary embolism (PE) prove venous embolic activity and enforce the suspicion of paradoxical embolism in patients with stroke with patent foramen ovale. Because it has implications in secondary prevention, we investigated the frequency of silent PE in such a cohort of patients. METHODS Patients with cryptogenic stroke or transient ischemic att...

INTRODUCTION Entrapped thrombus in a patent foramen ovale is a rare form of right heart thromboembolism. Various treatments have been used, such as anti-coagulation and thrombolytic therapy, vena cava filter, percutaneous thrombectomy and surgical embolectomy. CASE PRESENTATION A 60-year-old Kosovan woman was admitted to our hospital with a massive bilateral pulmonary thromboembolism, entrapp...

We report the case of an 85-year-old male with platypnoea-orthodeoxia associated with patent foramen ovale (PFO) and ectatic ascending aorta, in the absence of any significant pulmonary pathology.

A 63-year-old male presented with sudden onset chest pain and dyspnoea following a kick to the praecordium while gelding a horse. Transthoracic echocardiography showed evidence of flail tricuspid valve leaflets, severe tricuspid regurgitation and a widely patent foramen ovale with a right-to-left shunt. Due to progressive severe systemic hypoxemia the patient underwent emergent surgical interve...

To the Editor: The echocardiogram on the cover of the June 1, 1999, issue of Circulation is a beautiful illustration of an impending paradoxical embolism. Unfortunately, neither the text1 nor the key words of the article made any mention of this condition. Impending paradoxical embolism2 is a surgical emergency. This diagnosis would not have been possible before the advent of echocardiography. ...

OBJECTIVE We aimed to determine whether patent foramen ovale closure reduces the risk of stroke, also assessing some safety outcomes. INTRODUCTION The clinical benefit of closing a patent foramen ovale after a cryptogenic stroke has been an open question for several decades, so that it is necessary to review the current state of published medical data in this regard. METHODS MEDLINE, EMBASE...

INTRODUCTION Paradoxical embolism is an increasingly reported cause of arterial embolism. Several embolic sources have been described, but thrombosis of an arteriovenous fistula as a paradoxical emboligenic source has not, to the best of our knowledge, been reported. CASE PRESENTATION A 50-year-old Caucasian woman received a renal graft for primary hyperoxaluria. After transplantation, she wa...