Serial Shunt Evaluation Reveals Limitations of Contemporary Screening Studies for Patent Foramen Ovale

Every Patent Foramen Ovale Should Be Closed

At present, the patent foramen ovale (PFO) does not receive the deserved medical attention. The PFO poses a serious threat to health and even the life of mankind. The first respective case report in the medical literature dates back to the 19th century. It led to death. The fact that a PFO is present in roughly 25% of people underscores its overall potential to cause harm. Yet at the same time, the sheer number discourages the medical community from screening for it and from treating it. About 5% of the population have particularly dangerous forms of PFOs. Such PFOs portray a high enough risk for clinical events, the likes of death, stroke, myocardial infarction, or ocular, visceral, and peripheral embolism, to justify screening for them. Highly significant health incidents being at stake, it appears obvious that PFO closure should be used for primary prevention. This is supported by the fact that closing a PFO is the simplest intervention in cardiology, with presumably the highest clinical yield. Being mainly a preventive measure, PFO closure represents a mechanical vaccination. When closing PFOs for one of the rarer therapeutic indications (migraine, platypnea orthodeoxia, etc.), patients automatically profit from the collateral benefit of getting, at the same time, mechanically vaccinated for life against paradoxical embolism. Vice versa, closing a PFO for the prevention of paradoxical embolism betters or cures migraine or exercise dyspnea not infrequently, thereby improving quality of life as a collateral benefit.

Comparative evaluation of intracardiac, transesophageal, and transthoracic echocardiography in the assessment of patent foramen ovale: A retrospective single-center study

INTRODUCTION

Certain patent foramen ovale (PFO) characteristics, such as a large right-to-left shunt (RLS) or atrial septal aneurysm, identify patients who may receive the highest clinical benefit from percutaneous PFO closure. This study aimed to compare intracardiac echocardiography (ICE) with standard echocardiographic imaging in the evaluation of high-risk PFO characteristics and RLS severity in patients with PFO-associated stroke.

METHODS

We conducted a retrospective review of all patients aged ≥18 years who underwent percutaneous PFO closure for PFO-associated stroke and received all three ultrasound-based cardiac imaging modalities and had interpretable results (N = 51). We then compared RLS severity, high-risk PFO characteristics, and the proportion of patients with a higher likelihood of PFO-associated stroke by ICE versus transthoracic echocardiogram (TTE) and transesophageal echocardiogram (TEE).

RESULTS

The final cohort had a mean (±SE) age of 48.4 (±1.8) years and was predominantly female (58.8%). ICE was more likely to identify a large RLS versus TTE/TEE combined (66.7% vs. 45.1%; p = 0.03). The use of ICE resulted in significantly more patients being reclassified as having a higher likelihood of PFO-associated stroke (TTE vs. TEE vs. ICE: 10.4% vs. 14.6% vs. 25%; p = 0.03). A high-quality bubble study was found to be the single most important factor associated with identifying a larger RLS across all modalities (ρ [p]; TTE: 0.49 [<0.001], TEE: 0.60 [<0.001], ICE: 0.32 [0.02]). The presence of a hypermobile septum was associated with significantly greater RLS on ICE (ρ [p]: 0.3 [0.03]), especially with poor quality bubble studies (ρ [p]: 0.49 [0.02]).

CONCLUSION

In this observational study of patients with PFO-associated stroke, ICE detected a large RLS more frequently than TTE and TEE; and reclassified some patients as having a higher likelihood of PFO-associated stroke.

The Heart Brain Team and Patient-Centered Management of Ischemic Stroke

The multifaceted connections between the heart and the brain have been extensively studied at the anatomy, pathophysiology, and clinical levels. Studies have suggested a vital role for both cardiologists and neurologists in the management of various cardiovascular and neurological disorders. However, a true heart-brain team-based approach remained confined to large, specialized centers. In this paper, we review the various intersection areas of cardiology and neurology with regard to ischemic stroke. We focus our discussion on the challenges and opportunity for a heart-team approach to stroke in the context of atrial fibrillation, carotid disease, and patent foramen ovale, and in the setting of strokes complicating transcatheter endovascular interventions.

Advances in the management of cardioembolic stroke associated with patent foramen ovale

Patent foramen ovale (PFO) describes a valve in the interatrial septum that permits shunting of blood or thrombotic material between the atria. PFOs are present in approximately 25% of the healthy population and are not associated with any pathology in the vast majority of cases. However, comparisons between patients with stroke and healthy controls suggest that PFOs may be causative of stroke in certain patients whose stroke is otherwise cryptogenic. Options for the diagnosis of PFO include transthoracic echocardiography, transesophageal echocardiography, and transcranial Doppler ultrasonography. PFOs associated with an interatrial septal aneurysm seem to be more strongly linked to risk of recurrent stroke. Therapeutic options for secondary stroke prevention in the setting of a PFO include antiplatelet therapy, anticoagulation, and percutaneous device closure. Recent randomized clinical trials suggest that percutaneous closure reduces the subsequent risk of stroke in appropriately selected patients, with a large relative benefit but small absolute benefit. Referral for percutaneous PFO closure should therefore be considered in certain patients after a multidisciplinary, patient centered discussion. Areas for future study include structural biomarkers to aid in determining the role of PFO closure in older people with possible PFO associated stroke, the role of direct oral anticoagulants, and very long term outcomes after device closure.