Prevalence of Patent Foramen Ovale in Migraine Patients with and Without Aura Compared with Stroke Patients. A Transcranial Doppler Study

Abstract

The aim of this study was to investigate the prevalence of patent foramen ovale (PFO) in a consecutive unselected cohort of migraine patients (with and without aura) and compare it with a group of ischaemic young and elderly stroke patients. One hundred and forty-one migraine patients were compared with 330 stroke patients (130 young patients; 200 elderly patients) selected from our hospital stroke data bank. PFO was assessed with transcranial Doppler sonography with i.v. injection of agitated saline. The prevalence of PFO was 51.7± in migraine with aura (MA) patients, 33.7± in migraine without aura (MoA) patients, 33.8± in young stroke patients and 20.5± in elderly stroke patients ( P < 0.001). The prevalence of PFO in cryptogenic stroke in young and elderly stroke patients was, respectively, 41.1± and 25± ( P = 0.04). The difference between MA and MoA patients was significant (odds ratio = 2.1). The prevalence of PFO in MA patients is higher than in MoA patients and in young cryptogenic stroke patients.