What is patent foramen ovale closure?
Why would a doctor recommend patent foramen ovale closure?
What does a patent foramen ovale closure involve?
How long is the recovery after a patent foramen ovale closure?
What is patent foramen ovale closure?
Patent foramen ovale closure uses a thin, flexible tube called a catheter to repair a hole in the wall between the two upper (atrial) chambers of the heart.
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Why would a doctor recommend patent foramen ovale closure?
A patent foramen ovale (PFO) is a heart defect present at birth. It means that there is a flap or a valve-like opening in the wall (septum) that separates the two upper parts of the heart (the atrium). Blood then can flow in either direction between the right and left atriums. Because this blood may miss the filtering system of the lungs, blood clots can travel to the brain—causing a stroke—or to the eyes, kidneys, or other organs.
PFOs are fairly common. Everyone's heart has a hole in the septal wall before birth, and this hole closes 80 percent of the time soon after a child is born.
Most people can live with a PFO with no problems, but if a person with a PFO has a stroke or a transient ischemic attack (or "mini stroke" that last less than an hour), a doctor may recommend PFO closure.
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What does patent foramen ovale closure involve?
With the patient awake and under local pain medicine, the doctor inserts a thin, flexible tube (catheter) in an artery, usually near the patient's groin. Using an X-ray camera, the doctor guides the catheter into the heart.
He or she will perform several tests to measure the size of the PFO, and to check that there are no other defects in the heart. The tests may include an angiography, where the doctor injects dye into the heart arteries and measures the blood flow and blood pressure in the heart chambers.
To repair the hole, the doctor moves a PFO closure device—like two tiny, square umbrellas—through the catheter to the site of the heart wall defect. The device expands to cover each side of the hole. It will stay in the heart permanently to keep blood from flowing incorrectly between the two atrial chambers. The catheter is then removed.
The procedure usually takes between two and four hours. Heart tissue will grow over the closure device in a short time, and the device will become a part of the heart wall.
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How long is the recovery after a patent foramen ovale closure?
Patients must rest in the hospital for six hours after the procedure, and may return home either the evening of the procedure, or the following morning.
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