Your doctors (interventional cardiologist and neurologist) working together will be able to let you know whether you are a good candidate to have your PFO closed by an occluder device. However, you may be a good candidate for this procedure if the following criteria are met:

• If you have a patent foramen ovale (PFO) and have had a cryptogenic stroke due to a presumed paradoxical embolism.
• If it has been determined that you are at a high-risk for a second stroke (there are some risk calculator tools your doctor can use such as the RoPE score).
• If long-term treatment with anticoagulant medications is deemed not a good option for you in a shared decision between you and your doctor.
• There are other rare conditions besides stroke that could benefit from a PFO closure, such as if you have a problem with low blood oxygen level and consequent breathing difficulty (this is often caused by the movement of blood through the heart before it can be adequately oxygenated) also known as orthodeoxia-platypnea, decompression sickness in divers, other unexplained arterial embolic events; they require an individual evaluation and discussion of treatment options with your doctor.