Authors: Lamia Bencherif, Olivier Heinzlef, Nadia Ajili.
Introduction: The patent foramen oval (PFO) prevalence is higher in young subjects with cryptogenic stroke compared to the general population, but there is not much information in subjects over 60 years old.
The goal of this study is to estimate the prevalence of PFO in patients over 60 years of age managed at Centre hospitalier intercommunal de Poissy/Saint Germain en Laye (CHIPS) for an acute ischemic stroke (AIS) and compare these results to what has already been reported in the literature.
Methods: It is a monocentric, observational, descriptive and retrospective study of a series of patients aged 60 to 80 years with ischemic stroke managed in the Neurovascular Intensive Care Unit of the CHIPS from September 1, 2020 to December 31, 2020. We excluded from our series AIS of identified non-cardio-embolic cause according to the TOAST classification. We have chosen to favour contrast TTE over TEE in our population of elderly subjects.
Results: Among the 22 patients analysed (mean age of 72.3 years), 7 patients received TEE and 15 patients received contrast TTE for PFO screening.
In our series, we have a significant PFO prevalence of 12.5% in cryptogenic AIS (1 in 8 cryptogenic AIS), which corresponds to the prevalence reported in the literature in subjects over 60 years of age with cryptogenic AIS (13%).
Conclusion: This is a preliminary descriptive study on the prevalence of PFO in elderly subjects with cryptogenic AIS in our center before undertaking further studies on the association between PFO and AIS in patients over 60 years of age, and eventually on the interest of PFO closure in this age group.
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