A patent foramen ovale (PFO) is a hole in the heart that should have closed after birth. In this heart surgery, the surgeon uses stitches to close the PFO .A PFO closure fills an opening between your heart's two upper chambers. The foramen ovale usually closes 6 months to a year after the baby's birth. Patent foramen ovale closure is a procedure to close a hole in the heart. We use minimally invasive approaches to treat PFO without open-chest surgery. The foramen ovale is a hole in the wall between the left and right atria of every human fetus. This hole allows blood to bypass the fetal lungs. A patent foramen ovale (PFO) is a hole in the heart that didn't close the way it should after birth.