Patent foramen ovale in children: Unique pediatric challenges and lessons learned from adult literature

Sunil Saharan, Joseph Vettukattil, Aarti Bhat, Venu Amula, Manish Bansal, Devyani Chowdhury, Umesh Dyamenahalli, Saurabh Kumar Gupta, Bibhuti Das, TK Susheel Kumar, Ashok Muralidaran, Kalyani Trivedi, Sethuraman Swaminathan, Neha Bansal, Unnati Doshi, Arvind Hoskoppal, Seshadri BalajiAnnals of Pediatric Cardiology 2022 15(1):44-52 A patent foramen ovale (PFO) is a frequent incidental finding during echocardiography in otherwise healthy children. In most healthy children with a diagnosis of isolated incidental PFO, no further follow-up or intervention is necessary. In some children, PFO is associated with certain clinical syndromes such as cryptogenic stroke, decompression sickness, migraine, and platypnea–orthodeoxia syndrome. This review discusses PFO anatomy, diagnostic imaging, PFO-associated clinical situations, management options, and the role of PFO in certain congenital heart disease. This review also highlights the current deficiency of pediatric data guiding management of these uncommon but important PFO-associated conditions. Future multicenter randomized controlled studies are necessary to guide the management of these unique and challenging PFO-associated conditions.
Source: Annals of Pediatric Cardiology - Category: Cardiology Authors: Source Type: research