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Patent foramen ovale

• Overview
• Symptoms
• Treatment

Alternative Names:

PFO

Treatment:

This condition is not treated unless other heart abnormalities exist or if you had a stroke caused by a blood clot to the brain.

Closure of the PFO usually requires invasive surgery by a specifically trained cardiologist, who uses a special tool to permanently seal the PFO shut.

Expectations (prognosis):

The infant will have normal health in the absence of other heart defects.

Complications:

Unless there are other associated defects, there are usually no complications associated with PFO. There have been some studies suggesting that older patients with PFOs have a higher rate of a certain type of stroke (thromboembolic). The reason for this is that older people frequently develop blood clots in the veins in their legs. These clots can sometimes travel from their original site to the right side of their heart.

If PFO is present, the clot can then pass from the right side to the left side from whence it can travel to the brain and become lodged there, preventing blood flow to that part of the brain (stroke).

Calling your health care provider:

Call your health care provider if your baby turns blue when crying or defecating. Usually, however, this disorder is only discovered incidentally when a cardiologist performs an echocardiogram (ultrasound of the heart) to evaluate an unrelated heart murmur.

• Review Date: 6/27/2006
• Reviewed By: Anne J. L. Chun, M.D., Assistant Professor of Pediatrics, Division of Pediatric Cardiology, New York University School of Medicine, New York, NY. Review provided by VeriMed Healthcare Network.

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