Percutaneous closure of patent foramen ovale and the risk of atrial fibrillation

✍ Scribed by Ravinay Bhindi

• Publisher: John Wiley and Sons
• Year: 2010
• Tongue: English
• Weight: 24 KB
• Volume: 75
• Category: Article
• ISSN: 1522-1946
• DOI: 10.1002/ccd.22253

✦ Synopsis

In this study, Staubach et al. [1] report the prevalence of new atrial fibrillation after percutaneous patent foramen ovale (PFO) closure. The induction of atrial arrhythmias after the implantation of a device which could potentially affect atrial remodeling is a biologically plausible one and this study provides some reassurance that the likelihood of AF is quite small. One issue not discussed by the authors, but worthy of mentioning is the possibility that these patients, the majority of whom have had their PFOs closed for cryptogenic strokes may have had previously undetected paroxysmal AF which led to the stroke in the first place. It is therefore conceivable that a proportion of patients who have been labeled as cryptogenic strokes have actually had AF as a cause and could be another possible explanation of the presented results.