Abstract TP206: The Prevalence of Patent Foramen Ovale in Ischemic Stroke Patients in Korea - An Observational Study

Abstract

Objective: To find the prevalnece of Right to left shunt in stroke patients and general population in Korea. Methods: We assessed RLS by TCD from middle cerebral artery(MCA) of the stroke patients from whom MCA could be detected through temporal bone window. We tried to find microembolic signal(MES) at the middle cerebral artery for 90 seconds after injection air agitated saline (9ml saline with 1ml of air) in the right antecubital vein. This procedure was performed 2 times in one of the middle cerebral artery with and without Valsalva maneuver. Results: Seven hundred and fifty five stroke patients (430 male, mean age of 66.7 12.1) were enrolled. We also performed TCD monitoring in 1347 contorls (patient with other than stroke with or without headache, 915 male, mean age of 51.2 .2) for the comparison of the detection rate of RLS in stroke patients and general population. RLS was detected in 59 stroke patients, while in control group 170 cases (7.8% vs. 12.6%, p=0.001). In stroke patients, the mean age of those with RLS was significantly different from those without RLS (62.3 11.3 vs. 67.0 12.1, P=0.004). And RLS was more frequent among male(8.1%) than female(7.4%). There were no significant differences in the prevalence of PFO among stroke subtypes by TOAST classification (large artery atherosclerosis, 7.3%; small arterial occlusion, 7.9%; cardioembolic, 7%; undetermined cause, 8.3%). Conclusion: The frequency of RLS in general population is about 11%, but decreased in stroke patients compared to controls. And the prevelance of RLS is slightly increased in stroke patients with undetermined cause without significant difference from those of stroke patients with other etiology.