by Janice Rodriguez
This is my first website review for StrokeNet. I think that the Internet is a wonderful resource for stroke survivors, caretakers, loved ones and friends. It was a great help to me when I had my stroke! I am going to do something different on the format of this review - the way people usually find information on an interesting topic. It will be a series or chain of sites on a topic about stroke. But as you know, some of the information on the Internet is old, incomplete, and just wrong! So be skeptical and always check with your doctor or therapist!
The first topic is multipart - young stroke survivors (any person under 55 - it is great to called “young“ at my age!), cryptogenic stroke (an unknown cause), and heart defects causing strokes. Or another way to say it: Why do healthy young people have strokes? Of course, the entire lingo in this article will be defined as we go. The first website is called “Generation-S: Young Stroke Survivor” - the story of Bernie, a 29 years old man who had a stroke. He was diagnosed with a PFO (Patent Foramen Ovale) and then finally, diagnosed with atrial fibrillation. At the left of the Generation-S website, there are links to some terrific articles, health topics, survivors stories and new research and techniques - you can browse the links for hours!
But back to the topic -- this is paraphrased from another enjoyable website, “Harlan Stockman's "You're Kidding?" Stroke Page”: the definition of PFO in laymen words and great graphics: A patent foramen ovale (PFO) is a hole between the upper chambers of the heart. Before birth, the hole is "intentionally" open before birth. After birth, the hole is supposed to be closed by a flap of tissue. In about 25-30% of adults, a surgeon's probe can be pushed through the hole, and there is no tissue that forms a complete blockage. In about 5 % or so of adults, the hole is "open" all the time.
Now, I’m going to quote and paraphrase in a medical journal site (don’t be afraid!) “Contemporary Management of PFO.” “Assuming an annual incidence of 750,000 strokes in the United States, about 600,000 will be ischemic” (from clots). “Of these, about 200,000 will be cryptogenic, and of these roughly 70,000 will be associated with a PFO.” Why a PFO? Go back to Harlan: When a PFO exists between the upper chambers of the heart, there is the possibility that clots or bubbles will pass from the right chamber, to the left, and from there, directly to the brain causing a stroke. OK, back to the journal: About 21% (42,000) of ischemic strokes that have no known cause in people under 55 years old may be caused from a PFO . Wow! But what can they do?
“In 2000, the CardioSEAL device (NMT) and in 2002, the Amplatzer PFO Occluder (AGA) became available for PFO closure.” Got it! A new device to repair PFOs and other heart defects to prevent strokes. More information on these devices can be found on many sites: “NMT Medical,” “The CardioSeal and StarFlex Devices,” “The Stroke-inducing Hole in the Heart,” and “Spencer Vascular Diagnostic Services.” All the websites mentioned are listed below. So if you are interested, browse these sites. Have fun and I will see you next month on a different topic.
“Generation-S: Young Stroke Survivor”
http://www.orgsites.com/pa/generation-s/index.html
“Harlan Stockman's "You're Kidding?" Stroke Page”
http://users.viawest.net/~hwstock/stroke/stroke_main_hws.htm
“Contemporary Management of Patent Foramen Ovale“, Circulation 2003, AHA
http://circ.ahajournals.org/cgi/content/full/107/1/5
“NMT Medical”
http://www.nmtmedical.com/index.html
“The CardioSeal and StarFlex Devices” from Children’s Hospital Boston - for full disclosure purposes, I had a CardioSeal implanted in 2001, part of the High Risk Trial clinical research program.
http://web1.tch.harvard.edu/cardioseal/DataTrials.html
“The Stroke-inducing Hole in the Heart” from Johns Hopkins
http://www.hopkinsmedicine.org/hmn/W03/medrounds.cfm#stroke-inducing
“Spencer Vascular Diagnostic Services”
http://www.spencervascular.com/specializedexams.htm
Copyright © January 2004
The Stroke Network, Inc.
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