PFO Closure

Ladies and Gentlemen -

I am hear to report that I no longer have daily migraines.

On December 1, 2008, I had cardiac surgery to repair a Patent Foramen Ovale (PFO) in my heart. It was a long shot, but my cardiac surgeon and several neurologists agreed that it was the best course of treatment as I had exhausted all other preventative and abortive treatments.

Questions...please let me know! I would love to share more about my experience or point you to some great resources to learn more about PFO's, the potential link to headaches and my symptoms that are now in remission.

This is an experimental treatment for migraines that has received much press over the last few years. While there have been several trials to try to prove the association between the PFO and migraines, none have yet been successful. Why you ask? Well my doctors tell me for two reasons: 1) These trials are VERY expensive and they are tough to see through with enough funding and 2) the trials previously conducted measured success based on complete remission of all headache symptoms when a patients PFO is closed - not just a reduction or "almost" remission. What that means is if in a year after the closure, if a patient had even one migraine - it was considered a failure for that patient.

As a sufferer of chronic daily migraines, having only one migraine a year would be a complete success for me. Shoot - getting one migraine a month would be fine with me!

SO...what now? I get the opportunity to help educate others in the healthcare sector and anyone who reads this and wants to know more about my case. Hopefully we can inspire additional studies and research into this potentially compelling migraine cure.