Patent foramina ovale in elderly stroke patients.
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.
Vella
M A
MA
Department of Geriatrics and General Medicine, Guy's Hospital, London, UK.
Sulke
A N
AN
Rodrigues
C A
CA
McNabb
W R
WR
Lewis
R R
RR
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