Patent foramen ovale: assessment, clinical significance and therapeutic options.(Review Article)(Clinical report)

Southern Medical Journal,  December, 2006  by Aslam, Farhan; Haque, Attiya Anwar; Shirani, Jamshid

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Abstract: Foramen ovale plays an important function in the fetus but is of no physiologic significance after birth and closes in most individuals. In about one fourth of the population, however, foramen ovale remains open for life and has been associated with cerebrovascular accidents, especially in younger patients, presumably through paradoxical embolism.

Patent foramen ovale (PFO) has also been associated with hypoxia, migraine headaches and neurologic findings of decompression illness in scuba divers. Availability of transesophageal echocardiography and its frequent use in the ...

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