My Approach to Echocardiography in Radiofrequency Ablation of Hypertrophic Obstructive Cardiomyopathy

Introduction

Hypertrophic cardiomyopathy (HCM), an autosomal dominant genetic disease that affects one in 500 people, is considered the most common isolated form of hereditary heart disease. HCM is characterized by varying degrees of ventricular hypertrophy, myocardial fiber disarray, interstitial fibrosis, and microvascular disease in the absence of cardiac or systemic conditions to justify these findings.

Echocardiography, an invaluable tool for the diagnosis and follow-up of patients with HCM, is used to assess morphology, hemodynamic disorders, left ventricular (LV) function, and patient prognosis. It also has a fundamental role in cases of hypertrophic obstructive cardiomyopathy (HOCM) in the indication of invasive treatments. Radiofrequency ablation (RFA) is a possible treatment under study.

[…]