The Annals of Thoracic Surgery, Vol 46, 104-105, Copyright © 1988 by The Society of Thoracic Surgeons
Fatal hypoxemia following mitral valve replacement
JM Streitz Jr and PR Maggs
Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA.
Patency of the foramen ovale is a common condition. In certain clinical
settings it permits the development of right-to-left intracardiac shunting.
A case is described of sudden, fatal hypoxemia due to shunting through a
patent foramen ovale immediately following mitral valve replacement.