Transcatheters for closure of patent foramen ovales

Nowadays patent foramen ovale (PFO) closure is considered clinically beneficial and even cost-effective over medical therapy in secondary prevention of stroke due to paradoxical embolism.

In this review, the authors discuss both anatomical and technical details and constructive concepts of current devices used for PFO closure.

Right atrial and interatrial septum anatomy is more complex than usually thought and a unique prosthesis that fits properly to all the possible morphologies is far from being designed. Existing devices can be classified into suture-like devices, metal disk occluders and mixed metal/tissue occluders depending on the mechanism of closure and the amount of metal/tissue components. Moreover, during recent years, nothing-behind technology has been introduced and will be closely watched as a future option.