title: Patent foramen ovale and thromboembolic complications.
abstract: The foramen ovale, an atrial septal defect which is essential in the fetal circulation, remains patent through adulthood in approximately 25% of the general population and so it represents the most common persistent abnormality of fetal origin. Patent foramen ovale (PFO) allows interatrial right-to-left blood shunting during those periods of the cardiac cycle in which the right atrial pressure exceeds the left one. An increasing number of pathological manifestations of PFO has been recently identified; among these, paradoxical systemic embolism, refractory hypoxemia in patients with right ventricular myocardium infarction or severe pulmonary disease, orthostatic oxygen desaturation in the rare platypnea-orthodeoxia syndrome, neurological decompression illness in divers, high altitude pilots and astronauts, and finally, migraine headache with aura. Nowadays many techniques allow to detect a PFO. In this study we investigated each of them, assessing their potential diagnostic role even in comparison with the main features of the other methods.
authors.affiliation: Cardiology Unit, Department of Medical Pathophysiology, University La Sapienza, Rome, Italy. Giovanni.fazio-aaaa@poste.it
authors.forename: Giovanni
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Fazio
authors.forename: Giovanni
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Ferro
authors.forename: Giuseppe
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Barbaro
authors.forename: Filippo
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Ferrara
authors.forename: Giuseppina
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Novo
authors.forename: Salvatore
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Novo
mesh_terms: D004452:Echocardiography / Q000379:methods; D019560:Echocardiography, Three-Dimensional / Q000379:methods; D017548:Echocardiography, Transesophageal / Q000379:methods; D054092:Foramen Ovale, Patent / Q000150:complications / Q000175:diagnosis*; D006801:Humans; D009682:Magnetic Resonance Spectroscopy / Q000379:methods; D013923:Thromboembolism / Q000150:complications / Q000175:diagnosis*; D014057:Tomography, X-Ray Computed / Q000379:methods