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Before birth, the foramen ovale is a vital foetal opening between the right and left atria, allowing oxygen-rich placental blood to bypass the inactive lungs. After the first breath, pressure in the left atrium increases, closing the flap naturally. In around 25% of adults, the flap does not seal fully — this persistent communication is called a Patent Foramen Ovale (PFO) which is an important cause of cryptogenic stroke. All standard tests including an echocardiogram can be normal- it can be only be diagnosed using a bubble contrast study and once diagnosed, treatment with clam shell closure is high effective.
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Before birth, the foramen ovale is a vital foetal opening between the right and left atria, allowing oxygen-rich placental blood to bypass the inactive lungs. After the first breath, pressure in the left atrium increases, closing the flap naturally. In around 25% of adults, the flap does not seal fully — this persistent communication is called a Patent Foramen Ovale (PFO) which is an important cause of cryptogenic stroke. All standard tests including an echocardiogram can be normal- it can be only be diagnosed using a bubble contrast study and once diagnosed, treatment with clam shell closure is high effective.
The Naked Heart is a weekly series of blogs and social media publications from English cardiologist Dr Edward Leatham. His brief is to apply 50 years of breathing and practicing medicine to the series as part of a move from cardiologist and physician to educator.
The podcast publications that accompany each blog are AI constructs designed to broaden my audience and make quite complicated yet important knowledge more accessible.
The blog articles release each week provide additional information for readers https://www.scvc.co.uk/category/naked-heart/
Podcasts until Jan 2026 are located at https://Nakedheart.podbean.com
Podcasts after Jan 2026 are located at https://feeds.transistor.fm/the-naked-heart