Epidemiological studies have shown that the incidence of patent foramen ovale (PFO) in patients with cryptogenic stroke is significantly higher than general population.The close association between cryptogenic stroke and PFO supports the hypothesis that paradoxical embolism is a cause of stroke.However,the detection of PFO alone does not establish the diagnosis of paradoxical embolism in patients with cryptogenic stroke. The risk of ischemic stroke will increase significantly when PFO and other factors coexist.Some studies tave shown that there is significant difference between the MRI lesion patterns in patients with cryptogenic stroke and PFO in those without cryptogenic stroke,particularly in multiple ischemic lesions.Therefore,it does not support the theory of paradoxical embolism as a cause of stroke in patients with PFO.The PFO detection methods include transthoracic echocardiography,transesophageal echocardiography (TEE) and transcranial Doppler (TCD).TCD and TEE have a good consistency.Accordingly,TCD should be recommended as a simple,noninvasive,and reliable technique,while TEE should be only restricted to the selected patients.The treatment options of PFO include antiplatelet drugs,anticoagulant drugs,percutaneous vascular closure,and thoracotomy.Percutaneous vascular closure should only be considered the recurrent events during the medical treatment,the contraindications of medical treatment,and PFO with some anatomical high risks for patients with cryptogenic stroke with PFO before the completion of several large randomized controlled trials.

This article reviews the clinical studies about the treatment of allergic rhinitis （AR） with traditional Chinese medicine （TCM） in recent years. AR is a common and frequently occurring disease in the department of otolaryngology. The common manifestations of AR include nasal congestion， sneezing， runny nose， and nasal itching. AR， belonging to the category of rhinitis， is a dominant disease in the TCM treatment of otorhinolaryngologic diseases and head and neck diseases. The ancient literature has laid a solid theoretical basis on the etiology and pathogenesis of AR. According to the ancient literature， the theoretical basis， and their own experience， modern doctors classified the causes of AR into the disorders in Zang-fu organs and six meridians. Most of the explanations focus on the disorders in Zang-fu organs， especially the lung， spleen， and kidney. The clinical studies in this field mainly involve TCM treatment alone， integrated TCM and Western medicine treatment， and TCM external treatment. These therapies have good efficacy in the clinical treatment of AR. Among them， TCM treatment alone has significant advantages in alleviating the symptoms and nasal signs， declining the scores of related scales， and reducing the eosinophil count （EOS） of nasal secretions， with definite long-term efficacy. Integrated TCM and Western medicine treatment can complement with each other. The TCM external treatment methods include acupuncture， moxibustion， acupoint catgut embedding， acupoint application， and nasal irrigation with TCM， which are safe， simple， acceptable by patients and have good therapeutic effect. Finally， the clinical research status of TCM treatment of AR was summarized， and suggestions were put forward from three aspects： standardizing the clinical research protocol of TCM， encouraging pure TCM research， and exploring the mechanism of TCM treatment on the basis of frontier research achievements. This review aims to provide higher-level evidence for subsequent clinical research and promote the research on dominant AR diseases.