© 2005 by BMJ Publishing Group & British Cardiac Society
Mini-symposium
Clinical significance of patent foramen ovale: introduction
Medizinische Klinik II, Universitätsklinik Erlangen, Germany
Correspondence to:
Correspondence to:
Professor Frank A Flachskampf
frank.flachskampf@med2.med.uni-erlangen.de
Keywords: patent foramen ovale
| The first 150 words of the full text of this article appear below. |
Since Lechat’s and Webster’s seminal reports, the statistical association of cryptogenic stroke and patent foramen ovale (PFO) has intrigued both cardiologists and neurologists. Growing technical experience and improved percutaneous devices have encouraged cardiologists increasingly to close PFOs. Nevertheless, the indication for this procedure often remains problematic. Clearly, paradoxical embolism through a PFO is a well recognised complication of deep venous thrombosis, especially in the context of pulmonary embolism with its attending increase in right sided pressures. This scenario, however, is relatively rare. In contrast, the true importance of paradoxical embolism through a PFO in other circumstances remains unclear.
In this mini-symposium, the importance of PFO and the "case for closure" is expertly reviewed from different angles. Fausto Pinto discusses the echocardiographic diagnosis of patent foramen ovale; Pierre Amarenco reviews the observational basis for the imputed causality between PFO and cerebral ischaemia; and Bernhard Meier explains the interventional closure procedure and
CiteULike 
Complore 
Connotea 
Del.icio.us 
Digg 
Reddit 
Technorati What's this?
- Full Text
- Full Text (PDF)
- Submit a response
- Alert me when this article is cited
- Alert me when eLetters are posted
- Alert me if a correction is posted
Services
- Email this link to a friend
- Similar articles in this journal
- Add article to my folders
- Download to citation manager
- Request Permissions
Citing Articles
Google Scholar
PubMed
Topic Collections
Bookmark with
Register for free content
The full back archive is now available for all BMJ Journals. Institutional subscribers may access the entire archive as part of their subscription. Personal subscribers will also have access to all content when logged in. Non-subscribers who register have free access to all articles published before 2006 right back to volume 1 issue 1. Register here to access the free archive of all BMJ Journals.
Don't forget to sign up for content alerts so you keep up to date with all the articles as they are published.
