Patent foramen ovale and atrial septal aneurysm are considered to be factors conducive to the occurrence of stroke and transient ischaemic attacks. However, there is no clear answer to the question whether patent foramen ovale is an independent risk factor for stroke and what the mechanism of potential cerebral ischaemia in patients with an interatrial septal abnormality is. The paper presents ...

We report the case of a 61 yr old male, who developed a severe right-to-left shunt through a patent foramen ovale, in the absence of elevated right-sided heart pressures, two months after a left-sided pneumonectomy. This is considered to be a rare complication after pneumonectomy. However, taking into account the approximately 20% incidence of patent foramen ovale in the general population, we ...

The mean percentage of cryptogenic strokes among ischemic strokes is 31%, of which one-third may be associated with patent foramen ovale. The foramen ovale is required for blood flow through the fetal atrial septum. It is formed as of the fourth week of gestation, and this leads to right-left interatrial shunt that allows the passage of oxygenated blood to systemic circulation. In 75% of cases,...

Background and Purpose: The prevalence of a patent foramen ovale has been shown to be increased in patients with ischemic stroke. Transesophageal echocardiography, transthoracic echocardiography, and transcranial Doppler examination with contrast injection can all be used to search for a patent foramen ovale. We compared the accuracy of these techniques for identifying a patent foramen ovale in...

Introduction: Robotic prostatectomy is considered by many urologists as the new standard of care. Cases Description: We encountered 2 patients scheduled for a robotic prostatectomy whose past medical history was remarkable for a cerebral palsy that had been considered to be due to a patent foramen ovale. At this time, it was decided that foramen ovale closure was not necessary. Because of the h...

Transcatheter placement of patent foramen ovale occluders (PFO) is a safe and effective alternative to conventional open heart surgery with surgical repair of patent foramen ovale. Most devices involved in this repair are made up of a nitinol frame and over time there have been sporadic reports of allergic reactions in some patients to these devices, which are a composite of 55% nickel and 45% ...

We report a case of a 37-year-old woman with arrhythmogenic right ventricular cardiomyopathy (ARVC), after implantation of a cardioverter-defibrillator (ICD), who was admitted to our hospital because of focal infarctions in the right kidney and in the spleen. Echocardiography showed thrombi on the ICD electrode and the presence of patent foramen ovale. Patent foramen ovale was successfully clos...

We report a patient with hypoxia secondary to a right-to-left shunt through a patent foramen ovale, following aortic root, valve, and arch replacement due to an aortic dissection in the setting of the Marfan syndrome. Following the operation, he failed extubation twice due to hypoxia. An extensive workup revealed a right-to-left shunt previously not seen. The patent foramen ovale was closed usi...