Free PFO testing in Los Angeles

Hey all:

After taking an undeserved minor type 1 shoulder hit i decided to go get a PFO test. The "Transcranial Doppler Ultrasound" (TCD) is the way to go these days as it much cheaper and less invasive than "Transesophageal Echocardiogram" (TEE) which involves sedation and a probe going down your throat. It is also much more reliable than "Transthoracic Echocardiogram" (TTE) which is also less expensive and invasive than TEE but much less accurate.

You'd think it would be easy to find someone in LA but it took a considerable amount of googling and emailing to finally find a doctor to do this. Best part is, he is doing research on pregnant women and PFOs and performs this procedure completely free of charge. Not being female or pregnant, i fit into the control group.

The whole process was very simple. His research team met me at 930am in the lobby of 200 UCLA Medical Plaza, and within minutes, after signing some consent forms i was getting the procedure done. A helmet of sorts was put on my head, with gelled sonar attachments that fit on my temples. A catheter/IV was put into my right vein near the elbow and the technician used two syringes to introduce bubbles into the saline solution mixed with a little bit of my blood. i don't like needles so i didn't spend much time looking at the whole thing.

Then the bubbles were released into my vein and the techs monitored the computer screen. They get a result almost immediately. I was a zero. Then i blew into a tube attached to a pressure gauge and was told to hit and maintain a "40" pressure. This mimics a valsalva technique in a controlled manner. Again bubbles were released, i was monitored and the result was a zero. No PFO!

They took off the helmet, cleaned up the gel and sent me on my way. That's it. The whole thing took 45 mins, 20 of which was parking and walking to and back from the office. The only money spent was $11 for parking. Highway robbery for 45 mins if you ask me.

Note, the doctor does not perform this himself, his staff does, but they do up to 8 a day and really know what they are doing.

I mentioned i have quite a few dive buddies that would like this done and they had quite "the more the merrier" attitude about it.

The only contact info i have is one of the tech's personal email addresses which i don't want to post online but if anyone wants to book an appt PM me and i will happily provide you with his info.

Ari