Is the patent foramen ovale closure the best option?

Unlabelled: Patent foramen ovale (PFO) closure is indicated in some cases to protect patients against embolic events. The aim of this study was to certify that the method of PFO closure to prevent microemboli (MES) is reliable, using contrast enhanced transcranial Doppler (cTCD) as a diagnostic and follow-up tool.

Methods: cTCD was performed before and after PFO closure in 20 patients.

Transcranial Doppler for patent foramen ovale screening: is there a good correlation with transesophageal echocardiography?

Unlabelled: Right-to-left shunt (RLS) can be identified by contrast-enhanced transcranial Doppler (cTCD) in patent foramen ovale (PFO) patients.

Aim: To evaluate cTCD for PFO screening comparing it to cTEE.

Method: 45 previous cTCD performed for PFO diagnosis and correlated its findings with cTEE.

[Transcranial Doppler in the neurological practice].

Transcranial Doppler (TCD) was described in 1982 by Rune Aaslid and introduced in Brazil in 1992 by Roberto Hirsh in the University of São Paulo. Since the acquisition of TCD by Neurology Division of Hospital de Clínicas of Universidade Federal do Paraná (HC-UFPR) in 2001, the knowledge about TCD clinical utility has been increasing for diagnosis, follow-up and management of patients with cerebrovascular diseases. The objective of this study is to describe the current TCD indications and medical specialties indicators in our hospital.

[Lay knowledge about stroke].

The significance of the risk factors and the rapid diagnosis of encephalic vascular disease (EVD) is the reason for this research, where the authors decided to register and analyze the non-medical people knowledge about these risk factors and the symptoms of this group of disease. For this purpose a questionnaire with questions about these facts was applied to 500 voluntaries without pre-selection, 72.6% of them with ages between 16-35 years old, and the answers analyzed by statistical methods.