Usefulness of microbubble test by transthoracic echocardiography

• Published in: Neurosonology Vol. 34; no. 3; pp. 153 - 157
• Main Authors: KIHARA, Hideo, HASHIMOTO, Go, MAKINO, Kenji, UCHI, Takafumi, MAETANI, Iruru, IWABUCHI, Satoshi, TAKAHASHI, Keita, HAYAMA, Hiromasa, YOSHIKAWA, Koichi, FUJISAKI, Jun
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: Japanese
• Published: Kurashiki The Japan Academy of Neurosonology 01.09.2021; Japan Science and Technology Agency
• Subjects: Blood flow; Color; Echocardiography; microbubble test; Migraine; patent foramen ovale; Septum; transthoracic echocardiography
• ISSN: 0917-074X; 1884-3336
• DOI: 10.2301/neurosonology.34.153

Patent foramen ovale (PFO) is associated with cerebral embolism of unknown embolic source and migraine, and recently, percutaneous catheter closure has been performed. PFO is confirmed by color Doppler echocardiography as a short-circuiting blood flow signal across atrial septum. However, PFO remains closed at rest in most cases, and color Doppler may not be able to visualize the short-circuiting blood flow. Transesophageal echocardiography (TEE) microbubble test is usually used to detect PFO. However, TEE is an invasive procedure, and the insertion of the probe interferes with adequate Valsalva stress. In this study, we investigated the diagnostic accuracy of PFO in noninvasive transthoracic echocardiography (TTE) microbubble tests. Forty-seven patients (29 males and 18 females, mean age 66.3 years) underwent simultaneous TTE and TEE microbubble tests between July 2018 and December 2019. Results showed that 44 patients (93.6%) had concordant microbubble test determinations of TTE and TEE. Microbubble test by TTE was a useful screening test for the diagnosis of PFO.