MIAMI – Before birth, all babies have a hole between the two chambers of the heart but when it fails to close naturally after birth it can lead to an increased risk of stroke.
When properly diagnosed, specialists are able to correct this defect that affects one in four Americans.
For much of her life, Kamela Boyenne has been an avid athlete.
While doctors always told her she was healthy, she had a sense something was wrong.
“While playing sports I would feel heart palpitations I would feel something was odd,” she said.
But when her brother, mother, and grandmother all suffered strokes, Boyenne dug deeper.
A visit to cardiologist Dr. Pedro Martinez-Clark with H.C.A. Florida Mercy Hospital revealed she had a hole in her heart from a condition called patent foramen ovale or P.F.O.
“It is important that young people are aware of this condition because the strokes that are associated with a patent foramen ovale are typically in young people,” he said.
But Martinez-Clark said It’s still a mystery why some, not all, of those with P.F.O., go on to develop a stroke.
“So even though we know the correlation, established from a scientific validity perspective, there are still areas we don’t understand we don’t know why it behaves a certain way,” he said.
A P.F.O. can be corrected through a minimally invasive procedure that involves running a wire via a catheter through a vein and into the right side of the heart.
“And once we are in the right side of the heart we look for that tiny communication, we place a wire there in that communication,” Martinez-Clark said.
Boyenne Is on blood thinning medication to reduce her risk of stroke she undergoes the procedure to close the hole.
“I could have continued my busy life and gone about my day and never looked into it further but I’m grateful that I did,” Boyenne said.
Since evidence suggests that P.F.O. Has a genetic predisposition, knowing your family history is vital in reducing the risk of stroke.