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I don't have experience but we talked about this a lot in nursing school and in the majority of cases, PFO's end up closing on their own!

For those that don't, people can live relatively normal lives and just need to take some precautions. One of my good friends is in her early twenties and has PFO. She is a distance runner! There are some forms of exercise she can't do because if her heart rate gets too high, she gets too short of breath. Eventually she may require surgery but that's a long ways down the road for her.

Like I said, they typically resolve in the first couple years!

I think something like 20% of the population has a PFO and most are unaware of it. I do have one myself, and I only found out about it after a postpartum stroke (they believe the PFO was a factor in the stroke). But the evidence about PFOs and stroke is very murky, such that they don't recommend any preventative measures. Because I actually had a stroke, I now take low dose aspirin daily. They said I could have the PFO surgically closed, but my neurologist recommended waiting to see if more research shows that this surgery actually has a benefit (at the moment it doesn't seem to make you significantly less likely to have another stroke, as compared to just staying on aspirin). So I don't think you necessarily need to worry about it!

My son had a pfo that closed on its own around 6-7 months old. It was actually beneficial for him at the time due to his other heart defects. Congrats on your girl!

@agold: he was getting monthly echos to monitor his heart function and they noticed the blood pressure to his lungs increased and I noticed his respiratory function had gotten worse. They kinda had to look for it, but realized his pfo closed. For your daughter, I would imagine everything would seem better once it closes, even if it is a slight difference.