Hypertrophic cardiomyopathy is the condition of the heart that is usually caused by the mutation of the genes which leads to the abnormal thickening of the heart muscle. When the heart muscle is thicker than normal, the heart needs more strength in order to pump the blood, and along with this condition, myofiber disarray usually occurs, causing or contributing to the irregular heartbeat. This condition does not necessarily have to be serious, and, even though it may lead to severe consequences in some cases, in the greatest majority of the people, it does not even provoke any symptoms and they lead a perfectly normal life, often even completely unaware of this fact. Speaking of the symptoms, those which can be experienced in some rare cases are usually shortness of breath and pain in the chest (which are particularly expressed after exhausting physical exercises or activities such as running), tiredness, dizziness and heart palpitations.
Diagnosis
There are several ways to diagnose hypertrophic cardiomyopathy, and what might make a doctor suspicious about its presence is a heart murmur. This may be a reason good enough for him to order some other tests which will either confirm his suspicions or exclude this possibility. Such tests may include echocardiogram, electrocardiogram, holter monitor and cardiac MRI, and they all help the doctor to get the insight into the condition of the heart, either through electrical activity or images created by radio waves.
Complications
Despite the fact that this condition usually does not cause serious health problems to the people who suffer from it, there are certain complications which are possible, and having in mind that they are all related to the heart, some of them may even be life threatening. Arrhythmias such as ventricular fibrillation and ventricular tachycardia are some of the complications which may lead to the heart failure and a fatal outcome, while mitral valve problems, obstructed blood flow and dilated cardiomyopathy are a bit less serious complications. In order to avoid them, the symptoms have to be recognized in time and medical attention sought. When it comes to the treatment of this condition, the symptoms can be treated and controlled either with the help of the medicines such as beta blockers, disopyramide, and amiodarone, or with the help of the surgery procedures. There are some other methods of treatment as well, but unfortunately, there is no medicine or surgery procedure that can cure hypertrophic cardiomyopathy.
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