Stroke is the second highest disease causing burden on the global economy and one of the leading causes of non-traumatic disability [1]. As many as 30–40% of ischemic stroke cases have no identified medical cause, known as cryptogenic stroke (CS) [2]. Within the last century, the incidence of patent foramen ovale (PFO) in patients with CS is as high as 50–60%, which is significantly higher than 20–30% in the normal population [3]. In the past two decades, to explore the effective treatment of patients with CS and PFO, several related experiments have been conducted in the academic community.
