Foam tests are not usually needed for tension headaches, only when ruling out the suspicion that the foramen ovale may not be responsible for the headache.
Tension headaches are usually characterized by nonpulsatile headaches in the cervico-occipital region bilaterally or in the whole head, often presenting as episodic or persistent, and are usually difficult to take to determine the etiology, which is usually normal.
Among other things, an unclosed foramen ovale of the heart, a right-to-left shunt of blood flow and a pulmonary arteriovenous shunt can likewise contribute to the appearance of migraine, and once there is a suspicion of this, the cardiac cause needs to be ruled out by a foaming test to avoid misdiagnosis.
The foaming test is performed by injecting hand saline to detect the number of arterial thrombi in the brain to detect the presence of patent foramen ovale, and the specific operation and use of the test requires a doctor’s judgment based on the condition of the patient.