Background and Purpose: A patent foramen ovale has been reported to be significantly more frequent in young stroke patients than in matched control subjects, and paradoxical embolism has been suggested as the main mechanism of stroke in this situation. The present study was designed to test this hypothesis. Methods: Sixty-eight consecutive patients under 55 years of age presenting with an ische...

Ebstein anomaly is characterized by deformities of the anterior leaflet of the tricuspid valve and atrialization of the right ventricle. Patients with severe tricuspid regurgitation are recommended to have tricuspid valve surgery with concomitant atrial septal defect closure. A 73-year-old female with Ebstein anomaly presented with severe hypoxemia. Transthoracic echocardiography revealed sever...

BACKGROUND In divers, the significance of a patent foramen ovale and its potential relation to paradoxical gas emboli remain uncertain. OBJECTIVE To assess the prevalence of symptoms of decompression illness and ischemic brain lesions in divers with regard to the presence of a patent foramen ovale. DESIGN Retrospective cohort study. SETTING University hospital and three diving clubs in Sw...

Background: The prevalence of patent foramen ovale is approximately 50% in patients who have suffered a cryptogenic stroke. The recurrence of ischemic stroke after percutaneous patent foramen ovale closure is approximately 1% per year. Objective: The aim of this study was to evaluate the prevalence of recurrent ischemic stroke in our population undergoing percutaneous patent foramen ovale closu...

We describe a patient admitted to the intensive care unit with aphasia, which was due to an embolic ischaemic cerebral stroke associated with a previously unknown patent foramen ovale. Eventually, this finding during echocardiography led us to the diagnosis of pancreatic cancer. The thrombotic complications of pancreatic cancer, in combination with a large, patent foramen ovale, support the mec...

background: one of the important etiologies for cryptogenic stroke is paradoxical embolization secondary to patent foramen ovale (pfo). foramen ovale can secondarily reopen due to pulmonary arterial hypertension (pah) which is common among the older age. pah is known as a frequent and life threatening complication of copd. the aim of this study was to determine the prevalence of pfo between cop...

1. Domitrz I, Mieszkowski J, Kaminska A. Relationship between migraine and patent foramen ovale: A study of 121 patients with migraine. Headache. 2007;47:1311-1318. 2. Gori S, Morelli N, Fanucchi S, et al. The extent of right-toleft shunt fails to correlate with severity of clinical picture in migraine with aura. Neurol Sci. 2006;27:14-17. 3. Tembl-Ferrairo JI, Lago-Martin A, Sevilla T, Bosca-B...

1. Cruz-Gonzalez I, Solis J, Inglessis-Azuaje I, Palacios IF. Foramen oval permeable: situación actual. Rev Esp Cardiol. 2008;61:738-51. 2. Wahl A, Meier B, Haxel B, Nedeltchev K, Arnold M, Eicher E, et al. Prognosis after percutaneous closure of patent foramen ovale for paradoxical embolism. Neurology. 2001;57:1330-2. 3. Windecker S, Wahl A, Chatterjee T, Garachemani A, Eberli FR, Seiler C, et...

BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE Patent foramen ovale is associated with ischemic stroke in patients without a clearly identifiable etiology for stroke (cryptogenic stroke). Paradoxical embolization is thought to be a potential mechanism. However, patent foramen ovale is also found in patients with known cause of stroke. Therefore, using contrast transesophageal echocardiography, we characterized the pat...

Contrasting with three randomized trials that failed to show any superiority of patent foramen ovale closure over antithrombotic therapy, two trials recently reported lower rates of stroke recurrence among patients assigned to patent foramen ovale closure than among those assigned to antiplatelet therapy. In addition, one of the initially negative trials concluded in favor of patent foramen ova...