September 2008

Percutaneous closure of the patent foramen ovale (PFO) can be accomplished within 15 minutes using only fl uoroscopy for guidance. Local anesthesia and femoral vein puncture in the groin with a 9 French catheter can achieve about a 90% complete closure rate when the Amplatzer® PFO Occluder is used. Complications are extremely rare and physical restrictions are unnecessary starting a couple of hours after the intervention. Aspirin and clopidogrel (Plavix) are typically prescribed for a few months after the procedure, and the therapy concludes with transesophageal echocardiography at follow-up approximately 6 months later.

Migraines, including those with aura, are common and generally benign, affecting between 10% and 15% of the population.

Although multivessel coronary artery disease (CAD) is commonly encountered in patients with acute coronary syndrome (ACS), no randomized controlled trials have evaluated the effi cacy of singlevessel percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI) versus multivessel PCI.