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A patent foramen ovale (PFO) is a common anatomic finding in 20% of the normal population. Significant hypoxemia can occur in circumstances in which hemodynamic or anatomic changes predispose to increased right-to-left intra-atrial shunting. The subsequent hypoxemia produces substantial dyspnea that may affect the patient's quality of life, independent of underlying pulmonary disease. Profound hypoxemia caused by right-to-left shunt across the interatrial septum usually responds to percutaneous PFO closure. An important impediment to successful treatment is the lack of awareness of the potential role of a PFO in this condition.

Mesenteric ischemia is a rare disorder, with considerably high morbidity and mortality rates. It can manifest in several ways, including acute mesenteric ischemia, chronic mesenteric ischemia, nonocclusive mesenteric ischemia, mesenteric venous thrombosis, and colonic ischemia. Of these, acute mesenteric ischemia is the most severe form of intestinal ischemia, with a high mortality rate. The mainstay of therapy for mesenteric ischemia is surgical exploration and resection of infarcted bowel; however, medical therapy can play an important adjunctive role. When diagnosed early, before bowel infarction, endovascular therapy can be used as the primary treatment option. Endovascular therapy includes catheter-based thrombolysis, thromboembolectomy, and stenting. Vasodilators also play an important role in the early management of mesenteric ischemia. Anticoagulation is the main form of therapy in mesenteric venous thrombosis.

Multiple studies have demonstrated that implantable cardioverter-defibrillators (ICDs) and cardiac resynchronisation therapy (CRT) provide significant mortality and morbidity benefits to eligible patients irrespective of gender. However, female patients are less likely to receive this life-saving therapy and are significantly under-represented in cardiac device trials. Various performance improvement programmes have proved that this gender disparity can be reduced and these therapies should be offered to all eligible patients regardless of sex. Efforts should be made to enrol more women in clinical trials and sex-specific analysis in medical device clinical studies should be encouraged. In this article we review the data on sex differences in clinical outcomes with ICDs and CRT and explore the reasons for this sex-based disparity.