Plaintiffs conduct entitles it to damages and all other remedies at law.
Plaintiffs conduct entitles it to damages and all other remedies at law.
During transcatheter repair, a healthcare provider inserts a device that can plug up the PFO. This device attaches to the end of a long, flexible tube called a catheter. The healthcare provider inserts the catheter through a blood vessel in the groin and guides it to the PFO.
If you have a patent foramen ovale and had a stroke, your provider may refer you to a doctor trained in brain and nervous system conditions. This type of provider is called a neurologist.
Your healthcare provider may also repair the PFO by transcatheter repair or heart surgery. A transcatheter repair is less invasive than a surgical repair.
People who do not respond to medication may need a minimally invasive, catheter-based procedure. Your interventional cardiologist closes the PFO with a small closure device. This is done in a cardiac catheterization (cath) laboratory.
If you were born with a hole in your heart that never closed, known as a patent foramen ovale (PFO), you may need a procedure to correct it. Penn Medicine cardiologists use interventional techniques to close a patent foramen ovale without opening your chest for surgery.
You may be asleep for the procedure, or you may get a sedative to help you relax. Your doctor makes a small cut in your groin. Then the catheter, with tools inside it, is put into your blood vessel and carefully guided to your heart. Your doctor moves the tip of the catheter to place a small device inside the PFO.
Your Recovery The procedure can help prevent a stroke in some people. Your doctor used a thin, flexible tube called a catheter to place a small device that closes the PFO. After the procedure, you may stay the night in the hospital. Or you may go home the same day.
Some researchers say a PFO closure doesn't reduce your stroke risk much more than medication. But others have found that having a catheter-based procedure for PFO closure and taking blood-thinning drugs like aspirin gives people a lower rate of stroke than people who received only aspirin.