scholarly journals 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

2011 ◽  
Vol 2011 ◽  
pp. 1-6 ◽  
Author(s):  
Silvia Di Legge ◽  
Fabrizio Sallustio ◽  
Emiliano De Marchis ◽  
Costanza Rossi ◽  
Giacomo Koch ◽  
...  

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 (), 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.

Circulation ◽  
2008 ◽  
Vol 118 (suppl_18) ◽  
Author(s):  
Stephen B Wilton ◽  
Mohammed A Almekhlafi ◽  
Doreen M Rabi ◽  
William A Ghali ◽  
Diane L Lorenzetti ◽  
...  

In patients with a patent foramen ovale (PFO) and a prior cryptogenic ischemic stroke or transient ischemic attack (TIA), the risk of recurrent events is unclear. To conduct a systematic review and meta-analysis of studies assessing the risk of recurrent cerebrovascular events in patients with cryptogenic cerebral ischemia and PFO. MEDLINE (1950 to February 2008) and EMBASE (1980 to February 2008) databases were searched to identify studies in any language. Searches were supplemented by scanning bibliographies of key articles. Studies reporting original data on recurrent cerebrovascular events in patients with prior cryptogenic stroke or TIA and PFO, with or without a non-PFO comparison group, were included. Uncontrolled case series evaluating device or surgical closure of PFO were excluded. Two authors independently extracted the data from included studies and evaluated study quality. For studies with a non-PFO comparison group, relative risks were pooled using a fixed effects model after confirming homogeneity of results. For all studies, the pooled absolute rate of recurrent events was calculated using a random effects model due to heterogeneity of results. Fifteen studies published between 1994 and 2007, following 2377 patients over a mean of 37 months were included. In the four studies with a non-PFO comparison group, the pooled relative risk of recurrent stroke or TIA associated with the presence of a PFO was 1.1 (95% CI 0.8 to 1.5), while for recurrent ischemic stroke the pooled relative risk associated with the presence of a PFO was 0.8 (95% CI 0.5 to 1.3). The pooled absolute rate of recurrent ischemic stroke or TIA in patients with PFO was 4.0 events per 100 person-years (95% CI 3.0 to 5.1) while the rate of recurrent ischemic stroke was 1.6 events per 100 person years (95% CI 1.1 to 2.1). No clinical or imaging features are reliably associated with increased risk of recurrent events. In medically treated patients with prior cryptogenic stroke, available evidence does not support an increased risk of recurrent ischemic events in those with vs. without a PFO. Routine PFO closure in these patients may not be warranted, outside of ongoing clinical trials.


Author(s):  
Leanne Casaubon ◽  
Peter McLaughlin ◽  
Gary Webb ◽  
Erik Yeo ◽  
Darren Merker ◽  
...  

Background:Patent foramen ovale (PFO) is present in 40% of patients with cryptogenic stroke and may be associated with paradoxical emboli to the brain. Therapeutic options include antiplatelet agents, anticoagulation, percutaneous device and surgical closure. We assessed the hypothesis that there are differences in rates of recurrent TIA or stroke between patients in the four treatment groups.Methods:Patients presenting from January 1997 with cryptogenic stroke or TIA and PFO were followed prospectively until June 2003. Treatment choice was made on an individual case basis. The primary outcome was recurrent stroke. The secondary outcome was a composite of stroke, TIA, and vascular death.Results:Baseline. Our cohort consisted of 121 patients; 64 (53%) were men. Median age was 43 years. Sixty-nine percent presented with stroke and 31% with TIA. One or more vascular risk factor was present in 40%. Atrial septal aneurysm (ASA) was present in 24%. Treatment consisted of antiplatelet agents (34%), anticoagulation (17%), device (39%) and surgical closure (11%). Follow-up. Recurrent events occurred in 16 patients (9 antiplatelet, 3 anticoagulation, 4 device closure); 7 were strokes, 9 were TIA. Comparing individual treatments there was a trend toward more strokes in the antiplatelet arm (p=0.072); a significant difference was seen for the composite endpoint (p=0.012). Comparing closure versus combined medical therapy groups, a significant difference was seen for primary (p=0.014) and secondary (p=0.008) outcomes, favoring closure. Age and pre-study event predicted outcome.Conclusion:Patent foramen ovale closure was associated with fewer recurrent events. Complications of surgical and device closure were self-limited.


2011 ◽  
Vol 6 (1) ◽  
pp. 67
Author(s):  
Antonio L Bartorelli ◽  
Claudio Tondo ◽  
◽  

Innovative percutaneous procedures for stroke prevention have emerged in the last two decades. Transcatheter closure of the patent foramen ovale (PFO) is performed in patients who suffered a cryptogenic stroke or a transient ischaemic attach (TIA) in order to prevent recurrence of thromboembolic events. Percutaneous occlusion of the left atrial appendage (LAA) has been introduced to reduce stroke risk in patients with atrial fibrillation (AF). The role of PFO and LAA in the occurrence of cerebrovascular events and the interventional device-based therapies to occlude the PFO and LAA are discussed.


Stroke ◽  
2013 ◽  
Vol 44 (suppl_1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Richard Jung ◽  
Benny Kim ◽  
Joseph Massaro ◽  
Anthony J Furlan

Background: Cryptogenic stroke may have several etiologies including paradoxical embolism through a patent foramen ovale (PFO). A cardiac source of embolism may be suggested by multiple infarcts, sometimes hemorrhagic, in different vascular distributions or a cortical wedge shaped infarct. We report the baseline diffusion weighted MRI (DWMRI) characteristics in patients with cryptogenic stroke and a patent foramen ovale (PFO) from the CLOSURE I trial. Methods: CLOSURE I compared device closure versus medical therapy for secondary prevention in patients with cryptogenic TIA or stroke and a PFO. Of 909 patients randomized, 562 patients demonstrated acute infarcts on baseline DWMRI and are included in this analysis. Multivariate proportional hazard Cox regression compared imaging subgroups with remaining randomized patients Results: Single infarcts were found in 62% of patients. Of these, 61% were anterior circulation, 30% posterior, and 8.5% were of uncertain territory. Of the anterior circulation infarcts, 40% were cortical, 36% subcortical, and 24% affected both the cortical and subcortical regions. Of the posterior circulation infarcts, 45% were thalamic or cerebellar. Of 562 patients, 18.5% had a single subcortical lesion <1.5cm in diameter and met the radiological definition of an acute lacunar infarct. Multiple infarcts were found in 38%. Infarcts in a single vascular territory were found in 23%, often in the anterior circulation (66%). Infarcts in multiple vascular territories were found in 15%. Hemorrhagic infarction was present in 9%. Adjusting for patient characteristics, no significant difference in 2 year rate of TIA, stroke or death was found compared to remaining randomized patients. Discussion: The specificity of infarct patterns for embolism in patients with cryptogenic stroke and a PFO is uncertain. We found no significant relationship between lacunar or subcortical infarction and the risk of recurrent TIA or stroke. Baseline infarct patterns on DWMRI in patients with cryptogenic stroke and PFO may not be useful in predicting recurrent stroke risk or determining best prevention therapy.


2020 ◽  
Vol 21 (Supplement_1) ◽  
Author(s):  
L Carnero Montoro ◽  
M Ruiz Ortiz ◽  
M Delgado Ortega ◽  
A M Rodriguez Almodovar ◽  
N Paredes Hurtado ◽  
...  

Abstract Introduction The prevalence of patent foramen ovale (PFO) in the general population is high (25%). In patients with cryptogenic stroke (CS) and PFO, determining whether it is causally related to stroke or is an incidental finding is a controversial issue. The RoPE score was described in 2013 to predict the likelihood that the stroke was related to the PFO. The higher the score, the greater the risk of attributable causality, considering 6 as the cut-off point. This scale includes clinical variables, but does not consider the echocardiographic characteristics of PFO that were used as inclusion criteria in studies that have shown benefit with percutaneous closure, such as the complex anatomy of PFO (extensive passage of microbubbles across the PFO at rest and/or interatrial septum aneurysm). Purpose Our aim was to investigate the association of the RoPE score with recurrence of stroke in a series of patients with CS and percutaneously closed PFO in a period of time prior to the current recommendations, as well as to describe the presence of complex anatomy of PFO and its relationship with the value of that score. Methods A series of 172 consecutive patients with CS and percutaneous closure of PFO, included from January 2001 to November 2014 in a single center was analyzed, and the RoPE score was calculated retrospectively in each patient. The presence of complex anatomy of the PFO was estimated by echocardiography, and the rate of recurrence of stroke and the relationship of both variables with the value of the RoPE score was investigated. Results Of the 172 patients in the series, it was possible to calculate the RoPE score in 150 (87%) of them, which constitute the study sample. The mean age was 46 years (range 17-78), 60% were male, 21% were hypertense, 6% diabetic and 27% smokers. A history of previous stroke was present in 3% of patients and 11% had an imaging study with cortical infarction. RoPE score was ≥6 in 69% of the sample, and 66% of the patients presented complex anatomy of PFO, without significant differences between those with RoPE score ≥6 and &lt;6 (65% versus 70%, p = 0.62). Acute complications (mortality, cardiac tamponade, stroke, device embolism) related to closure of the PFO were not observed. After 17.5 years of maximum follow-up (mean 9.6 ± 3.7 years, no patients lost, with a total of 1441 patients-years of observation), 6 patients presented a stroke. The recurrence rate of stroke was very low in both groups of patients, either with RoPE score ≥6 or &lt;6 (0.4 versus 0.5 per 100 patients/year, p = 0.87). Conclusions In our center, before the current recommendations of PFO closure associated with CS, most of the patients had a RoPE score≥6. The majority of patients presented a complex anatomy of the PFO and the incidence of stroke recurrence was very low, independently of the value of the RoPE score.


2018 ◽  
Vol 13 (3) ◽  
pp. 240-242 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jean-Louis Mas ◽  
Gilles Chatellier

Contrasting with three randomized trials that failed to show any superiority of patent foramen ovale closure over antithrombotic therapy, two trials recently reported lower rates of stroke recurrence among patients assigned to patent foramen ovale closure than among those assigned to antiplatelet therapy. In addition, one of the initially negative trials concluded in favor of patent foramen ovale closure after an extended follow-up period. A better selection of patients, the use of reference treatment groups that included patients who received antiplatelet therapy alone (rather than antiplatelet drugs or oral anticoagulants, according to physician preference), and a longer follow-up of patients, may explain the divergent findings across studies. Procedural complications were reported in 1.5% to 5.9% of the patients, none of which led to permanent disability or death. Patent foramen ovale closure was associated with an increased risk of new-onset atrial fibrillation in several studies and of venous thromboembolism in one study.


Sign in / Sign up

Export Citation Format

Share Document