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Updated: Mar 25, 2026

Closure of a Patent Foramen Ovale PFO: An Intervention Sequence
Published on: December 23, 2022
Renal infarction caused by paradoxical embolism through a patent foramen ovale
Hyemin Jeong1, Hyun Woo Lee1, Ji Young Joung1
1Department of Medicine, Samsung Medical Center, Sungkyunkwan University School of Medicine, Seoul, Korea.
Abstract:
A 48-year-old man presented with acute right flank pain. A computed tomography scan revealed right renal infarction. Because he had no thrombosis in the renal vessels and no clear embolic source, a further examination was performed to find the cause of the renal infarction. On transesophageal echocardiography, a right-to-left shunt during the Valsalva maneuver established a diagnosis of patent foramen ovale. This is a case of paradoxical embolism through a PFO leading to renal infarction.
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