An article a bit thick to get through, but very informative about the
debate about patent foramen ovale closure for stroke risk. That being said, if you're interested in the topic, heart.org did a nice job in getting different expert opinions. Read the entire article, but here's a snippet:
Depending on one's point of view, the studies fail to support the continued treatment of patent foramen ovale (PFO) with the Amplatzer occluder (St Jude Medical, St Paul, MN) for the prevention of stroke recurrence or provide yet more evidence that closing PFOs is the right thing to do.
The conflict arises from the fact that both randomized, controlled clinical trials missed their primary end point. As reported by heartwire, the studies were negative, with RESPECT suggesting a benefit when evaluating the "as-treated" patients only, and this has left researchers, clinicians, and other experts trying to understand what went wrong and the potential reasons the trials don't line up with published observational reports.
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