First I would like to say that as a young Father 14 years ago, my blessed baby girl was diagnosed with an 8mm secundum type Atrial Septal Defect/PFO. I researched this topic until I literally knew more about it than most cardiologists. As a laymen with a mighty imagination and plenty of fear , I was hyper-vigilant most hours of the day and regularly sick to my stomach my precious daughter would die (even though in reality this couldn’t be further from the prognosis). After exhaustive research and grilling even a cardiac molecular biologist, I learned my little girl would be just fine. EVERYTHING said here is SPOT ON and this is a testament to this Dr’s talent and obviously very high intelligence. My daughter’s PFO spontaneously closed as many do so if your child or loved one is diagnosed with this; do not worry as the odds are very much that all will be more than fine! May God’s blessing be with you always.

We have been made to believe that "hole in the heart" is a terrifying condition. I know of a few persons with the condition. Instead of educating us, they also tend to create mystery around the condition, reinforcing our belief. Thanks for removing my ignorance. You have wonderfully explained its genesis, symptoms and probable remedy. God bless you and your family members.

Thank you so much ,I find you’re videos so helpful , I’m 45 yrs old and was diagnosed with pericarditis in June and was on a 3 month treatment of Colchicine and Advil for inflammation, and now was diagnosed with PFO and my left heart valve leaking , I appreciate you’re videos on these topics , I also appreciate you giving God credit in the creation of our bodies,he indeed deserves all the credit. God bless

Very interesting thank you very much doctor. We appreciate everything You do for all of us. You keep us informed.

Recieved the diagnosis of a PFO two days ago. What was new to me after quite some research is the fact that the blood can clot due to an atrial septal defect... very interesting. I will ask my cardiologist on Tuesday about this... Thank you very much!!

My 9 year old daughter has a PFO but also has ventricular ectopic beats 15% over a 24 hr ECG. She will be going for an exercise ECG this year. She gets dizzy a lot and sometimes complains of chest pain after running around. I am hoping she lives a normal long life with no further complications. 14:56 Thank you for the videos they are great to have to explain things more clearly and calmly, I can really take my time to understand.

I love your videos. 45 year old diagnosed with cryptogenic stroke but did not have positive MRI evidence. So now, the neurologist says stroke and to close the PFO but the interventional cardiologist thinks it was some sort of migraine event so he doesn't think we should close. The confounding piece of the puzzle is that I had afib for several hours 10 years ago. But I don't believe I've had it recently. I now have an implanted loop recorder to see if I have afib episodes that I'm unaware of. The cardiologist has done 500 successful PFO closures with Amplatzer occluder and he said that many of his patients no longer suffer from migraines, even though that is NOT why they were closed. Thanks so much for explaining these very complicated topics in ways that regular people can understand. I wish my doctors were half as clear as you are.

This is so informative, I have PFO it was found in an ECHO exam because I was having palpitations and chest pain and I still do. I also get migrains. Nobody has ever explained it to me the way you did so thank you so much.

Fascinating as always, thank you 🙏

Thank you so much for all the info on extra beats which I have... I have watched all the videos and working on my anxiety when they happen!! Lol.. Thanks again... California viewer

thank you for this in-depth explanation of pfo...i suffered a right brain stroke 5 1/2 years ago due to pfo....great explanation...so informative

Thank you, Dr. Gupta, for your lay-person explanation! Now I understand the probable connection between my PFO and TAA (Thoracic Aorta Aneurysm). I would like to know more!

Hello Dr. Gupta, thank you for your Informative video. I had a Atrial septal aneurysm with PFO. The Atrial septal aneurysm had a deflection (or better to say a deviation) of 23 Millimeter. The PFO has been closed with Gore Septal Occluder (Diameter 30 Millimeter) 5 years ago after a stroke. Now I am 63 years old and everything OK, I do sports like before.

Long story short, I strongly believe in a relationship between afib, PFO and frequent migraine attacks. However, nobody has dared to research it for some reason.

Hello Dr. Gupta! As I mentioned on your PAH video I do have a PFO found at 50 years of age. I had the echo bubble test and an ultrasound. At the time there wasn't a good reason to close it. You mentioned migraines and I never thought that they could be related. The neurology team diagnosed it as a constant migraine. I have PAH newly diagnosed. Yes, I have had mini strokes or what they call TIA's. They have not determined the cause. Here in the USA I can have the closure procedure where they feed the patch through the catheter to close on both sides of the PFO. I am now looking into it. Thank you for your sharing your time and knowledge. I feel calmer after watching your video. I love Doctors that work with patients as a team. Take care🙂

Thank you for interesting info .❤️👍❤️👍❤️👍

This is great thank you so much. Please can you talk some more about ASA?

I was scheduled to have a hip replacement operation in March, but was diagnosed with a PFO on a recent echocardiogram. I am now waiting to have a TOE, to find out how large the gap is, owing to worries that the debris from the operation could cause a stroke. You did not mention this in your excellent presentation. There appears to be little medical literature addressing this problem. Since a quarter of people having hip replacements might be in danger, should this not be more widely publicised?

Thank you Dr Gupta for explaining PFO. I have been symptom free. It was diagnosed incidentally in 2013 when I was offered a freebie ECHO. My older sister has ASD and being treated conservatively. It was diagnosed incidentally in her adult life. I have always done sports and gym workouts effortlessly including sprinting. The only sport I’m unable to do is, running/jogging. I become tired within minutes of jogging. I was always puzzled by it. Perhaps the PFO was the culprit. Would appreciate your comment on this.

Hi. I had a Tia and then they found a small Pfo. I’m following up with a cardiologist I’m just nervous about having another worse stroke . I’m taking aspirin and Lipitor. This video was great

Thank you, Dr. Recently had partial vision loss of right eye, pcp recommended TEE. Found PFO. Now comes the difficult decision to close or not to close. Certainly do not want to have another TIA leading to a more dire outcome, but also not sure if closing the PFO will be the answer. I believe I will have more imaging to further investigate my issue: however the PFO was found. Thank you very very much for your video, very informative and easy for the layman/woman to understand. Thank you, Best.

Thank you Dr. I’m much more clear about my PFO after listening to your video. You’re a great teacher. Take good care.

I am a Scuba Instructor and had a mild case of DCS (bends), I also suffer from Aura Migraines. Trying to convince my Family Doc to have me tested for PFO, it is common knowledge amongst divers that is could be primary cause of DCS when Dive profile is completely within limits. Thank you for this video I refer my Doc to it to help explain. Maybe then I can get a referral to cardiologist.

My mother had a PFO and was symptomatic. She had a CABG and had continued shortness of breath with activity. Her physicians did pulmonary tests on her, which all came back normal. She had a repeat cardiac catheterization that showed her graphs were still patent. Her cardiologist's nurse practitioner diagnosed her with a transcranial doppler that showed bubbles crossing the septum. It was a huge relief to have a diagnosis. Unfortunately, there are very few physicians who can close a PFO. Dr. Lewis found a pediatric cardiologist at Duke University but he insisted that Dr. Lewis at CAMC attempt the procedure first. The interatrial close device stayed in place for about 2 months. Then we took her to Duke and that device bulged out. Finally, we went to Baltimore at University of Maryland and that doctor replaced and it has been ok since.

Great video, thanks When the Dr listens to the chest and says that he can hear murmur, is this PFO?

🙂 4:08~ "therefore what God gives us" love this. Thank you for your great incite. My nephew had this I believe. He went into his 30's not knowing. He became an underwater welder. Under high pressure he had an incident where it was discovered. The dr. Said, he may have never have had the discovery if he had taken a different type of job. You are now talking of diving ~ just what happened to him. He came up from a deep dive, all was well, went into the galley to make a sandwich and collapsed. Initially they thought ~ the bends but upon recalculation, he was not brought up too fast. He did have a procedure to correct ~ in those days (about 1999) it was full open heart surgery. He gave up diving. Thank you for this interesting video.

Just came out of the hospital and had my eco bubble test ans the personas conducting would not twll me much apart from they will send the information to my doctor and i could already tell they found a pfo and confirmed. So march 2023 had a minor stroke not knows thing cause im early 40s young and fit so been on medicine and the last 9 minths been doing ecg and ither tests in and out of the hospital and they could.not find the cause of my stroke so today jan 2024 was my eco bubble and as suspected there is a hole left the hospital waiting for full verdict and googled what is a pfo came across this video and it basically answered all my concerns and worries and sounded like he was talking to me thanks for the video and putting my mind at ease

Thank you for this I've just been diagnosed ontop of my Pots, been complaining for years I have pressure in my head on any straining laughing etc at times feeling of thunder clap. Collapsed many times with no memory on coming round. I was told it was just syncope and just recently migraines although family and first responders who have witnessed saying looks more TIA. Thinking this is actually all related,wondering now if I have to live the rest of my life like this.

Thank you for all of this information really helpful. I am a mom and my son who is 14 now has a PFO. At my request to make sure that he has a healthy heart, when he was 10 years old we did an electrocardiogram as he plays hockey and does a lot of exercising and is very active and I wanted to make sure that he has a healthy heart. He has no issues nor any symptoms (once he had a migraine with aurora didn't interfere with his day, after extreme exercise - took him to an eye specialist and all good) at all but I wanted to make sure that the hockey he plays and activities he does is not going to be a problem if he has a PFO. This sounds very scary to me as a mom. Is it dangerous, or very rarely those bad things can happen? Thank you so much for your advice.

I have PFO with ASA. Thank you for explaining the ASA part. My cardiologist didn't take time to explain it to me. Looking into closure as I had a stroke in January.

I have a PFO and four years ago I had a stroke...Because I wasn't a candidate for a stroke the doctors did a test called a TEE ( not sure what is stands for) that is when I learned I have a PFO. I was going to have it closed at the same time I had an ablation done for SVT but my insurance said I had to have another stroke in order for them to cover it ( go figure). Since my stroke and ablation in 2015 I have had two cardiomyopathy (broken heart) incidences. The first one a stent was put in (I have no idea why) and the second, two years after the first and just two weeks ago for second. I pretty much knew what it was and insisted the hospital run tests before stenting me again for no reason. I sit here now with a pounding heart that does not stop and palpitations constantly and I keep saying to myself "this can not be something that is not a concern or later a problem with my heart".

Sir I have a pfo, which was diagnosed in a screening test. I'm 26 years old, I never had any symptoms I was very active in all athletic activities, but since now I can notice very mild pain in my chest area on inhaling during fast running. I had it before but never took it seriously since I never knew about pfo, but now I'm concerned. Can someone please help me

Can this temporarily change your heart rate under certain circumstances? (like during hard exercise)

Sorry for a second comment. Could you explain a cardiomegaly with tortuous aorta?

I am waiting to be seen for a possible PFO closure but I am very concerned about the side affects of the procedure. Just wondering what are your thoughts about the procedure. I have found your video's very informative thank you so much.

2 Dr Sanjay Gupta? One English and one American speaking? I'm confused. However, you are great!

I have a PFO with an Asa. But I also have MVP with moderate regurgitation and an enlarged left atrium. Could they all be connected in some way? Or am I just unlucky?

My Dad was just diagnosed with this at 82 yrs old. Never gave him any trouble. He did however develop afib about 30 yrs ago, and takes warfarin. Just wondering, could his PFO have caused afib?

Just found out from my recent echocardiogram at age 50 that I have a PFO, and I am a hardcore scuba diver. I will definitely go with the prevention and the closure ASAP I order to continue my healthy lifestyle.

Dr I have a small PFO 2-3 bubbles after most recent test. I’m 53 and my neurologist believes I had a very mild stroke at some point in my life since my left lip is lower than the right. I also had A-flutter 4 years ago but had a it successful eliminated with a catheter A-Flutter ablation. I want to get the hole closed I believe it’s cryptogenic. Should I get it done?

I had my closure 7 months ago and started working out again slowly with resistance bands for a month now. Still feel abit weird at times. Used to be a powerlifter and now i had to use bands. Any recommendations doc?

Great information thank you.... I have had a whole heart since 2 years old. Never caused any issues. I was a swimmer although childhood. Dr picked up a murmur age 37... Not sure if I should be concerned. It's always been there although routine checks did not always pick up the murmur.

Can you discuss complications of closing a PFO. Although small, there are a number of people adversely affected after closure.

I have just discovered I have a pfo . I had 2 TIAS this year which showed on mri scan. I also suffer with an eye condion called anterior uveitis and now scleritis . I was in perfect health until last year. I’m just wondering if pfo was closed this would maybe stop other issues. I have suffered with aura migraines on and off over a few years

Hello I want to comment on the genetic side of this. I have a PFO that was found 20 yrs ago after my first TIA. My daughter also has a PFO. My mother and her mother both died from massive stroke with clot to brain from the heart. No evidence of them having a PFO as I don’t have their medical records. I’d love to know more on genetics. I have AFIB my mother had a fib and my son has a fib too. My daughter with a PFO had SVT AVNRT that was ablated successfully the 3rd time. I have no evidence of my son having a PFO yet. I have an adult daughter also with no heart history. We all get migraines with food allergies. We have Ehlers Danlos Syndrome HYPERMOBILITY. I’m curious if a connective tissue disorder could be the key to this PFO not closing. We have faulty collagen. Love an answer. Thank you. Dolores.

Thank you for this video. I have a PFO with atrial septal aneurism. Do you suggest closure for me? I am 41 yrs old btw. I do take 1 81 mg of baby aspirin a day.

I had a ischemic stroke..They found a shunt and i was on a heart monitor for 30 days....they are scheduling me for a PFO...the question i have is can the device break off in my blood stream and cause issues..or can it corrode or go bad and cut my heart or vessels after being in my body so long for life

You are a wonderful human being. I have had (2) strokes in 6 months and have been diagnosed with a PFO. I am scheduled for closure the month however I am torn as I would like the noblestitch or to be stitched up contrary to using the Amplatzer. Can you tell me if stitching the flap is becoming more common and who I could reach out besides Dr. Tompson in VA for such a procedure? Thanks in advance.

A PFO was found when had an ablation for AVNRT. Cardiologist used isopril to trigger the arrhythmia and an atrial tach also showed up. He found the PFO when was trying to go across the septum.. This all started when I developed difficulty swallowing, vocal cord paralysis, esophageal dis motility and vertigo 10 days after stopping aspirin ordered by ortho surgeon for shoulder surgery. . Three cryptogenic strokes were found on left side. The stroke this summer turned to be brain stem. I am

4mm pfo left-right shunt means it's isolated pfo,12years,male what tests we need to do sir,can we identify clots before stroke,what tests to find clot

ive read that people that get migraines tend to have more PFO

My fiance is 65 in 2 days. He has been diagnosed with 3 lung diseases, and two stents in his heart. He also had brain surgery about 4 years ago from a hematoma that he received from wrestling around with his cousin. His brain bled for 45 days as he was unaware. Currently, 3 weeks ago he unfortunately had 2 strokes where he temporarily lost speech and facial expression. They have found a PFO as a result. My questions: 1) With COPD, emphysema, and honeycomb lung, does this increase his risk for complications from the PFO repair procedure? 2) With this procedure, will he gain more energy? He tires easily. I would like to acknowledge your gift of teaching. I am not an RN but have taken many classes for dementia and Alzheimer's as a HHA and I learned more in 25 minutes from you than any of them. They we're good teachers however, You have a way of putting things together where light bulbs go off in my head and I can understand the whole process, (lungs, heart, brain) much better. Thank You for taking the time to help us understand.

My 11 years old son is diagnosed to have PFO while recovering from heart palpitations post long Covid + syndrome typhoid infections, occasional tachycardia on exertion and frequent severe migraine every 2-3 weeks and have to give naxdom tab pain killer as advised by neurologist so please advise from heart side whether it requires urgent attention to cardiologist or neurologist or we should wait for him to grow.

Please do ostium secundum ASD in adult

Can I continue to strength train and weight lift with PFO?

please pray for my newborn son for having a PFO .

Sir my nephew has some kind of pfo...i want to discuss more about it in person..how can i reach u

Hi Dr my daughter 32 y.o suffered from strong migraines and also she is a diver x work. Recently found out has PFO. Just had TEE donde report says has multiple small PFO . What would be the procedure x many holes. Isn’t that very risky? I can send u the report if u want more info. She doesn’t have the consult until Nov And I am desespérate looking x answers. Pls help. Thank u !

Can a 6mm PFO will be closed? My girl is 14 days born what is the PFO closure percentage of newborns upto 2 years?

I was diagnosed in 2016 with a PFO.....but I don't think it could truly be that because I had an ECHO in 2004 and 2008 and neither one of those ECHOs showed a hole, yet somehow this one did......I am not doubting the existence of the hole.....I am doubting that it was somehow missed in BOTH of my earlier ECHOs, I wonder if it could be new.....I am wondering if it is possible to not have had a hole and then somehow a hole was created. ....a major part of the reason I also think this could be possible is that my 2008 ECHO was done because I had +2 pitting edema, fatigue, and a number of other symptoms of Right side heart failure, and that 2008 ECHO showed an enlarged right ventricle. In my 2016 ECHO the right ventricle was back to totally normal size......I wonder if it is possible for the pressures to have built till they "blew a hole" through and that released pressure allowed the right side to shrink back to normal????? My doctor brushes me off like I am an idiot and refuses to answer my question. I live in an area where I don't have any other cardiologists I can go to without having to take a 5-6 hour flight to get there. (I have no issues taking that flight, just don't want to deal with it if there's a chance I will just get blown off again) So I don't have the option of finding a doc who will treat me like a human being and answer my question of if it's possible.....he just said that both my earlier scans must have been wrong, or the hole was just missed...... but I question how it could be missed if there were higher pressures on one side.....I mean, by definition if there is an enlarged right ventricle then there has to be higher pressures, correct? Or at the very least imbalanced pressures?? So how could a hole be missed if there are uneven pressures?? I am sorry if my question is stupid, I just don't see how it could be possible to have all of the things that are supposedly givens (a.k.a.proven) to be true, could actually be true, unless the hole is new.

Watching this video 5 years on, you say its inconclusive that PFOs are connected to cryptogenic stroke, does the literature/specialist still adhere to that view?

Small pfo with L to R shunt Pls tell cure 🙏🏻

My heart beats fast all the time and sometimes when I eat I shake and my heart starts beating fast I never went to a doctor

Hey I'm 31 my name is Rachael and I have a pfl not sure if it's an aneurysmal at the moment it might be... I've known I had a PFO since 2014 when I got a tee test where they go down your throat and check out your heart from the inside... That doctor who did it said it was very tiny and I didn't need to do anything..... Fast forward to now I see a different heart doctor they see the PFO on the echocardiogram ultrasound he said they couldn't get a really good reading even with the bubbles I didn't see any bubbles travel through on the screen so he wants to do a tee... He said there's no IV this time they do it differently where I take a pill and it shuts my brain down to go to sleep I guess not sure if that's a different way if you know what I'm talking about kind of scared the way he said it.... But they want to roll out to see if it's floppy or if it's still small... Can you tell me possible symptoms that you would get from a PFO if it was a bit bigger than a pinhole. I get hot a lot and I'm not talking just a little bit but I feel like I'm always having like a heat stroke if I don't have cool air on in the house and if I'm doing stuff to make my heart great increase then I feel like I get like sweaty from head to toe and my heart just palpitates and then I have to cough and then I get scared so a palpitates more to the point where like it feels like it pounds in my chest and kicks me in there.... But it does calm down... And I noticed this only happens mostly I would say only I guess when I have my menstrual cycle .. . Like palpitating off and on constantly for like a whole day... She thought I had pods which is the positional bending over heart palpitating thing but I don't think it's that. . My general family doctor told me that but my heart doctor never said anything about that.. anyways stroke and heart attacks run on my mom's side of the family and I guess this PFO runs in the dad's side of the family and I'm kind of scared... I noticed also like my body is pretty proportionate it only my stomach.... I feel like for the amount of food I eat a day it shouldn't be as big.... Like I just can't get rid of the visceral fat I was reading up on patients with pfos have more stomach fat or can't get rid of it I don't know but.... Is it okay to exercise like strength training with weights and some Insanity cardio? If the PFO is small and I don't need surgery? If I do need surgery can I still be doing the same things after surgery once I heal... Do you recommend the old fashioned suture it up the flap or a patch?

I had a PFO and was getting ocular migraines and a lot of palpitations, since closure (in 2017) I haven’t had any ocular migraines or the palpitation I was getting. I go however get skipped beats more but otherwise feel ok.

My 48hr old baby has been diagnosed with pfo/pda...they found it with a echocardiogram due to breathing difficulties...his lungs arent inflating properly. Its great to have this info to hand. But im very curious as to whether breathing issues are caused by pfo/pda?