Cryptogenic Stroke

The goal of this clinical trial is to test a new heart device called P3 Occluder System in patients who have a small opening between the upper chambers of the heart (called a Patent Foramen Ovale or PFO) and have experienced a stroke that may be related to this heart opening. The main question it aims to answer is: • Is the P3 Occluder System safe and effective for closing a PFO in patients who have had a stroke that could be related to a PFO. Participants will: * Undergo the procedure to implant the P3 Occluder System, if deemed appropriate. * Visit their doctor at 1 month, 3 months, 6 months, 1 year and 5 years after the procedure for follow up exams. * Answer a phone call from study staff at 2 years, 3 years and 4 years after the procedure to answer a survey.

Patent foramen ovale (PFO) is a congenital interatrial communication present in about one quarter of the general population and is recognized as a major cause of cryptogenic stroke. Percutaneous PFO closure reduces recurrent stroke, but a residual right-to-left shunt persists in 20 to 40 percent of patients after device implantation. Long-term data on device performance, the evolution of residual shunt over time, new-onset atrial fibrillation and other prognostic factors remain limited. This single-center registry evaluates the long-term efficacy and safety of percutaneous PFO closure and identifies the clinical, anatomical, procedural and pharmacological factors associated with clinical and echocardiographic outcomes. The registry combines a retrospective cohort of patients treated at Severance Hospital between 2010 and March 2026 with a prospective registry extension that enrolls patients undergoing PFO closure after institutional review board approval, with follow-up for up to 119 months. Clinical outcomes include recurrent ischemic stroke or transient ischemic attack, all-cause death, device-related complications and new-onset atrial fibrillation. Echocardiographic outcomes are assessed by serial agitated saline transthoracic echocardiography, which allows the presence, grade and longitudinal trajectory of residual shunt to be characterized.

The goal of this clinical trial is to test a new heart device called P3 Occluder System in patients who have a small opening between the upper chambers of the heart (called a Patent Foramen Ovale or PFO) and have experienced a stroke that may be related to this heart opening. The main question it aims to answer is: • Is the P3 Occluder System safe and effective for closing a PFO in patients who have had a stroke that could be related to a PFO. Participants will: * Undergo the procedure to implant the P3 Occluder System, if deemed appropriate. * Visit their doctor at 1 month, 3 months, 6 months, and 1 year after the procedure for follow up exams. * Answer a phone call from study staff at 2 years and 3 years after the procedure to answer a survey.

Patent foramen ovale PFO closure has been shown to reduce the risk of stroke in patients with recurrent stroke. However, the majority of existing clinical studies in this field excluded patients over the age of 60 years. Data in older patients is limited and since the population ages and stroke remains a major cause of death and morbidity, randomized clinical trials are needed to better assess the benefit of PFO closure in this elderly population. Therefore, this study proposal sought to determine the efficacy of PFO closure for the prevention of recurrent stroke in older patients with PFO and cryptogenic stroke.

This registry is performed for the long-term assessment of outcome, performance and residual safety aspects of the BIOMONITOR III and possible successors in a real-life clinical set-up. In addition, this registry is set up in a way that it may also be used as a platform for submodules to investigate additional scientific and regulatory aspects while minimizing the additional effort for the investigational sites and patients.

Stroke recurrence largely depends on the detection of the cause and the control of vascular risk factors, with occult atrial fibrillation (AF) being one of the most important. Prolonged ambulatory cardiac monitoring is recommended for detecting occult AF. Currently, there are non-invasive monitoring devices such as the textile Holter that have proven to be useful for monitoring for up to 30 days but not longer. Another alternative is smartwatches, although they must be validated for use in the elderly population who have had a stroke.

The objective of this study is to establish reasonable assurance of safety, effectiveness, and noninferiority of the Encore PFO closure device when compared to any investigator chosen FDA-approved PFO closure device.

Cryptogenic stroke (CS) causes about 30% of admissions to a stroke unit. Silent paroxysmal atrial fibrillation (PAF) is believed to be the underlying cause of a significant proportion of patients. The use of implantable cardiac monitors (ICM) early after the CS has demonstrated benefits in the diagnostic yield, but the indication for ICM in the current guidelines remains unclear. Atrial contraction strain (ACS) evaluated by cardiac ultrasound could be of help to select the patients more prone to suffer from silent PAF. The purpose of this investigation is to conduct a randomized prospective unicentric study to evaluate the usefulness of ICM for early detection of silent PAF episodes in patients with CS. Clinical and ultrasound predictors of PAF occurrence (ACS) will be studied in order to define patients needing a closer follow-up.

To evaluate the performance of Cera™ patent foramen ovale occluders developed by Lifetech Scientific (Shenzhen) Co., LTD;