Hypothesis investigates increased right-to-left shunting in platypnea-orthodeoxia syndrome, suggesting mechanism related to posture.
Platypnea-orthodeoxia syndrome (POS) is a cause of positional dyspnea and hypoxemia that worsens in the upright position and improves with recumbency. It is proposed that the mechanism is due to increased right-to-left shunting, commonly through a patent foramen ovale (PFO). We hypothesized that the upright position leads to an increase in the PFO height facilitating orthodeoxia.
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Elisarraras et al. (2026) studied this question.
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