A mystery featuring right-to-left shunting despite normal intracardiac pressure

Abstract

The cause of right-to-left atrial shunting despite normal intracardiac pressures and normal or near-normal pulmonary function through a patent foramen ovale has still not been completely clarified. It is probably responsible for several linked diseases, such as paradoxical embolism, platypnea-orthodeoxia syndrome, migraine with aura, transient global amnesia, and decompression sickness in sport divers. Despite modern diagnostic methods, the underlying anatomophysiologic and pathogenic mechanisms of right-to-left atrial shunting without abnormal intracardiac pressures remain a matter of debate and controversy. Holistically speaking, a return to a direct study of embryology, gross anatomy, and physiology may help us elucidate the real mechanism of this paradoxical shunting.