Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
. 2011:2011:959483.
doi: 10.5402/2011/959483. Epub 2011 Dec 15.

Short-Term and Two-Year Rate of Recurrent Cerebrovascular Events in Patients with Acute Cerebral Ischemia of Undetermined Aetiology, with and without a Patent Foramen Ovale

Silvia Di Legge  1 , Fabrizio Sallustio, Emiliano De Marchis, Costanza Rossi, Giacomo Koch, Marina Diomedi, Mauro Borzi, Francesco Romeo, Paolo Stanzione
Affiliations

Short-Term and Two-Year Rate of Recurrent Cerebrovascular Events in Patients with Acute Cerebral Ischemia of Undetermined Aetiology, with and without a Patent Foramen Ovale

Silvia Di Legge et al. ISRN Neurol. 2011.

Abstract

Purpose. We investigated stroke recurrence in patients with acute ischemic stroke of undetermined aetiology, with or without a patent foramen ovale (PFO). Methods. Consecutive stroke patients underwent to Transcranial Doppler and Transesophageal Echocardiography for PFO detection. Secondary stroke prevention was based on current guidelines. Results. PFO was detected in 57/129 (44%) patients. The rate of recurrent stroke did not significantly differ between patients with and without a PFO: 0.0% versus 1.4% (1 week), 1.7% versus 2.7% (1 month), and 3.5% versus 4.2% (3 months), respectively. The 2-year rates were 10.4% (5/48) in medically treated PFO and 8.3% (6/72) in PFO-negative patients (P = 0.65), with a relative risk of 1.25. No recurrent events occurred in 9 patients treated with percutaneous closure of PFO. Conclusion. PFO was not associated with increased rate of recurrent stroke. Age-related factors associated with stroke recurrence in cryptogenic stroke should be taken into account when patients older than 55 years are included in PFO studies.

PubMed Disclaimer

Similar articles

See all similar articles

Cited by

References

    1. Thaler DE, Saver JL. Cryptogenic stroke and patent foramen ovale. Current Opinion in Cardiology. 2008;23(6):537–544. - PubMed
    1. Mas JL, Arquizan C, Lamy C, et al. Recurrent cerebrovascular events associated with patent foramen ovale, atrial septal aneurysm, or both. New England Journal of Medicine. 2001;345(24):1740–1746. - PubMed
    1. Homma S, Sacco RL, Di Tullio MR, Sciacca RR, Mohr JP. Effect of medical treatment in stroke patients with patent foramen ovale: patent foramen ovale in Cryptogenic Stroke study. Circulation. 2002;105(22):2625–2631. - PubMed
    1. Sacco RL, Adams R, Albers G, et al. Guidelines for prevention of stroke in patients with ischemic stroke or transient ischemic attack: a statement for healthcare professionals from the American Heart Association/American Stroke Association Council on Stroke—Co-sponsored by the Council on Cardiovascular Radiology and Intervention. The American Academy of Neurology affirms the value of this guideline. Circulation. 2006;113(10):e409–e449. - PubMed
    1. Büscheck F, Sievert H, Kleber F, et al. Patent foramen ovale using the premere device: the results of the CLOSEUP trial. Journal of Interventional Cardiology. 2006;19(4):328–333. - PubMed

LinkOut - more resources