title: Patent foramina ovale in elderly stroke patients.
abstract: Fifty elderly patients who had suffered cerebrovascular incidents from no obvious cause and 33 age-matched controls were investigated for the presence of a patent foramen ovale by contrast 2-dimensional echocardiography at rest and after the Valsalva manoeuvre. Right-to-left shunting was found in only one patient and in none of the controls. This finding is in contradistinction to young adult stroke patients in whom the prevalence of a haemodynamically significant patent foramina ovale is high. Paradoxical embolism is an uncommon cause of stroke in the elderly.
authors.affiliation: Department of Geriatrics and General Medicine, Guy's Hospital, London, UK.
authors.forename: M A
authors.initials: MA
authors.lastname: Vella
authors.forename: A N
authors.initials: AN
authors.lastname: Sulke
authors.forename: C A
authors.initials: CA
authors.lastname: Rodrigues
authors.forename: W R
authors.initials: WR
authors.lastname: McNabb
authors.forename: R R
authors.initials: RR
authors.lastname: Lewis
mesh_terms: D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D002561:Cerebrovascular Disorders / Q000209:etiology*; D004452:Echocardiography; D005260:Female; D006344:Heart Septal Defects, Atrial / Q000150:complications*; D006801:Humans; D002542:Intracranial Embolism and Thrombosis / Q000209:etiology; D008297:Male