title: Improvement in sleep apnea associated with closure of a patent foramen ovale.
abstract: Recent reports have documented an association between patent foramen ovale and obstructive sleep apnea. We report on a 51-year-old man with obstructive sleep apnea and recent stroke who was enrolled in a clinic trial evaluating the efficacy of closure of patent foramen ovale following ischemic stroke. He was randomly assigned to device closure. There was subjective dramatic improvement in sleep-apnea symptoms and objective improvement in polysomnographic testing after device implantation. Aside from a drop in apneas and hypopneas from 181 and 8 on the first polysomnogram to 19 and 0 on the second, there was no significant weight loss nor were there other significant changes in sleep parameters or medications. He stopped using continuous positive airway pressure 2 months after implantation and has had no recurrent sleep complaints during 18 months of follow-up. Further studies evaluating the relationship among patent foramen ovale, sleep apnea, and device implantation are warranted.
authors.affiliation: Department of Neurology, Henry Ford Hospital, Detroit, MI 48202, USA. silver@neuro.hfh.edu
authors.forename: Brian
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Silver
authors.forename: Adam
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Greenbaum
authors.forename: Sharon
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: McCarthy
mesh_terms: D006348:Cardiac Surgical Procedures; D002544:Cerebral Infarction / Q000150:complications / Q000473:pathology; D045422:Continuous Positive Airway Pressure / Q000295:instrumentation* / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D006344:Heart Septal Defects, Atrial / Q000150:complications* / Q000601:surgery*; D006801:Humans; D008279:Magnetic Resonance Imaging; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D017286:Polysomnography; D011184:Postoperative Period; D012720:Severity of Illness Index; D020181:Sleep Apnea, Obstructive / Q000150:complications* / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000628:therapy*; D012894:Sleep Stages / Q000502:physiology; D012913:Snoring / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000209:etiology; D016896:Treatment Outcome