Patent foramina ovale in elderly stroke patients.

Vella, M A; Sulke, A N; Rodrigues, C A; McNabb, W R; Lewis, R R · Postgrad Med J · 1991

case_control · Level III

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Abstract

Fifty elderly patients who had suffered cerebrovascular incidents from no obvious cause and 33 age-matched controls were investigated for the presence of a patent foramen ovale by contrast 2-dimensional echocardiography at rest and after the Valsalva manoeuvre. Right-to-left shunting was found in only one patient and in none of the controls. This finding is in contradistinction to young adult stroke patients in whom the prevalence of a haemodynamically significant patent foramina ovale is high. Paradoxical embolism is an uncommon cause of stroke in the elderly.

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