Thanks, Dr. Powell. That's our normal recommendation as well, i.e. don't have the PFO closed because the risk of complications related to the procedure is higher than the risk for DCS related to the PFO. I'm interested in farsidefan's procedure simply because we don't encounter too many divers who've had a PFO closed (though it sounds like that wasn't technically his diagnosis).
We once had a test subject in the Flying After Diving study arterialize some bubbles at altitude through a previously-unknown PFO. The inside tender happened to have the TTE probe in place and saw the bubbles cross, so the operator took the chamber back to sea level right away and the subject remained asymptomatic. It's interesting that these cases are some of the few instances in which we've actually seen bubbles cross a septal defect in an "operational" (vs. clinical examination) setting.
We once had a test subject in the Flying After Diving study arterialize some bubbles at altitude through a previously-unknown PFO. The inside tender happened to have the TTE probe in place and saw the bubbles cross, so the operator took the chamber back to sea level right away and the subject remained asymptomatic. It's interesting that these cases are some of the few instances in which we've actually seen bubbles cross a septal defect in an "operational" (vs. clinical examination) setting.