What is the rate of recurrent stroke or TIA after PFO closure in patients with cryptogenic embolism?
While recurrent stroke risk after PFO closure for cryptogenic embolism remains comparable to RCTs, recurrent TIA risk may be higher in real-world cohorts, particularly in patients with hypertension.
In this study, the rate of recurrent stroke/TIA after PFO closure was low, but higher than reported in previous studies. These elevated values are primarily due to the higher risk of recurrent TIA, as the recurrent stroke risk in our cohort is comparable to that reported in RCTs. Hypertension was significantly associated with the recurrence of a stroke/TIA.
Kanon et al. (Wed,) studied this question.