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Updated: Mar 19, 2026

Closure of a Patent Foramen Ovale PFO: An Intervention Sequence
Published on: December 23, 2022
A rare case of impending paradoxical embolism with a complex patent foramen ovale
Yasuko Yamaura1, Kikuko Obase2, Nozomi Watanabe2
1Division of Cardiology, Hyogo Health Service Association, 4-4-20 Mikage-Honmachi, Higashinada-ku, Kobe, 658-0046, Japan. yasuko-yamaura@mvj.biglobe.ne.jp.
Abstract:
A 68-year-old woman, who presented with pulmonary embolism, was diagnosed as having an impending paradoxical thromboembolism by transthoracic and transesophageal echocardiography, which revealed an entrapped thrombus in the atrial septum. The patient underwent surgery for thromboembolectomy. A patent foramen ovale (PFO) appeared as a tunnel with three openings into the left atrium; one opening located close to the antero-superior left atrial wall and two small atrial septal defects of a septum primum. A thrombus was trapped at two small atrial septal defects. This was a rare case of impending paradoxical embolism with complex morphology of PFO.
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