BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE Patent foramen ovale (PFO) is associated with cryptogenic stroke. There is no study that assessed the effect of age on adverse event rates in cryptogenic stroke patients with PFO. The purpose of this retrospective analysis from PFO in Cryptogenic Stroke Study (PICSS) database was to assess the effect of age on the risk of adverse events in medically treated cryptogenic st...

BACKGROUND The association between patent foramen ovale (PFO) and stroke risk in young adults is controversial and poorly understood. Paradoxical embolization through a PFO represents a possible mechanism by which PFO might predispose to stroke. OBJECTIVE To describe 4 patients with PFO who experienced the onset of ischemic stroke during sexual intercourse. DESIGN Case series. SETTING Ter...

The importance of patent foramen ovale (PFO) has long been discussed in the literature in relation to different coexisting medical conditions. Many researchers focused on the occurrence of PFO in ischemic stroke patients, especially in the subgroup of young patients with a recurrent event. Unfortunately, before establishing a clear significance of PFO and right-to-left shunting (RLS) in pathoge...

The development of percutaneous devices capable of closing atrial septal defects has led to renewed debate about optimal management of patients with patent foramen ovale (PFO). Echocardiography has made diagnosing PFO routine , but in most patients appropriate management, including the role of device closure, remains a matter of speculation. Anatomy and prevalence During infancy, fibrous adhesi...

BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE Patent foramen ovale (PFO) may play an important role as a risk factor for ischemic stroke and some other neurological conditions. There is a need for low-cost and noninvasive methods for the detection of PFO. This study evaluates the accuracy of two simple bedside tests, the dye dilution method and ear oximetry, in the detection of PFO. METHODS Dye dilution curves and ...

Patent foramen ovale (PFO) is highly prevalent and associated with more than 150,000 strokes per year. Traditionally, it is thought that PFOs facilitate strokes by allowing venous clots to travel directly to the brain. However, only a small portion of PFO stroke patients have a known tendency to form blood clots, and the best treatment for this multiorgan disease is unclear. Therefore, mapping ...

The air/PFO and the buried electrode/PFO interfaces have been investigated by two-color SFG spectroscopy. Due to the interface confinement effects, the planes of PFO rings are nearly parallel to the surface plane, and the optical band gaps become smaller at the interfaces than those of the bulk.

Patent foramen ovale (PFO) is experiencing increased clinical interest as a congenital cardiac lesion persisting into adulthood. It is implicated in several serious clinical syndromes, including stroke, myocardial infarction, and systemic embolism. The PFO is now amenable to percutaneous interventional therapies, and multiple novel technologies are either available or under development for lesi...

The anaerobic bacterium Clostridium perfringens expresses multiple toxins that promote disease development in both humans and animals. One such toxin is perfringolysin O (PFO, classically referred to as θ toxin), a pore-forming cholesterol-dependent cytolysin (CDC). PFO is secreted as a water-soluble monomer that recognizes and binds membranes via cholesterol. Membrane-bound monomers undergo st...

P atent foramen ovale (PFO), the most common postnatal residue of the fetal circulation, has for many years been considered to have almost no clinical relevance. In an autopsy study from the Mayo Clinic, PFO was found in 27% of 965 normal human hearts, with an incidence declining with increasing age (34% in the first three decades and 20% in the ninth and 10th decades).' PFO size ranged between...