Patent Foramen Ovale (PFO)

It’s important to choose a team of heart specialists who can correctly detect and thoroughly evaluate a PFO. The state’s most experienced PFO experts are part of the team at University of Iowa Heart and Vascular Center.

PFOs that remain open are thought to cause strokes, migraines, and other problems. For many years, closing a PFO required open-heart surgery. Now, a minimally invasive cardiac catharization repair is the most frequent treatment, with outcomes comparable to open-heart surgery.

The UI Heart and Vascular Center interventional cardiology team has performed these closures for more than 20 years. As part of the clinical trials for today’s newest closure devices, we’ve helped to shape the field. And we offer the broadest range of treatment options for PFO and other heart conditions.

Our team examines you and reviews your test results. They work together to determine whether you need a procedure to close your PFO.

Your care team may include:

• Interventional cardiologists with specific training and experience in structural heart disease
• Heart surgeons
• Specialists in cardiac ultrasound, MRI, and CT scans
• Neurologists

If your team determines that you need open-heart surgery for another heart problem, such as a valve replacement, your PFO could potentially be closed during surgery. PFO closure is rarely done as an open-heart surgery on its own.

Minimally invasive PFO closure

PFOs that need repair can usually be closed with a cardiac catheterization procedure to place a device that seals off the flap.

UI Heart and Vascular Center cardiologists were part of clinical trials to test devices for PFO closure, so they’re among the nation’s most experienced specialists.

• You’ll receive a sedative to relax you, but you will remain awake during the procedure.
• After numbing the skin with a local anesthetic, your cardiologist will make a small incision in a vein near your groin and insert a tube called a catheter into the incision.
• Through the catheter, the cardiologist will thread a small PFO closure device into your heart and place it in the hole to seal it closed. Tissue will eventually grow over the device to further seal the flap.
• You’ll likely be able to go home the same day and resume normal activities within two weeks. Your risk of stroke decreases.

Alternatives to PFO closure

Your care team will choose the treatment that works best for you. They might recommend treating your PFO with medication to prevent blood clots from forming. Medications could include:

• Aspirin or another antiplatelet drug that makes your blood cells less likely to stick together
• A blood thinner (anticoagulant) that limits the formation of factors that make blood clot