Centers of Distinction
Hypertrophic Cardiomyopathy Center

The Minneapolis Heart Institute Foundation (MHIF) Hypertrophic Cardiomyopathy Center is designed to provide patients with a state of the art evaluation. The Center is staffed by nationally-recognized cardiologists with a subspecialty expertise in the evaluation and treatment of patients with hypertrophic cardiomyopathy (HCM), supervised by Dr. Barry J. Maron, who has been involved extensively with HCM for almost 30 years. All currently accepted treatment modalities for patients with HCM are available through MHIF, including defibrillator implants and alcohol septal ablation.

Hypertrophic Cardiomyopathy is the most common genetic heart disease; characterized by a thickened left ventricular wall. The clinical spectrum of HCM is broad, encompassing the risk for sudden cardiac death primarily in the young.

Although a relatively common genetic cardiovascular disease, Hypertrophic Cardiomyopathy is uncommon in cardiology practice, particularly in comparison to coronary artery disease, which represents the primary focus of cardiologists. HCM presents a broad and complex disease spectrum that has caused some confusion among the many clinicians who have had limited prior experience with this disease. This is the advantage to being evaluated by cardiologists familiar with HCM.

There are several goals of a consultation in the Hypertrophic Cardiomyopathy Center. First, given the potentially misleading information about HCM to which patients are often exposed, patient and family education and genetic counseling regarding HCM, as it may pertain to the individual patient, is crucial. Of course, if there is any uncertainty about the diagnosis of HCM itself, this resolution has the highest priority.

A second important goal is the assessment of the individual patient and the HCM subgroup within which he or she belongs. This determination is relevant to anticipated clinical course, prognosis and treatment options, including determination of whether that patient is at unacceptably high risk for sudden death and a candidate for preventive measures.

If the HCM patient has limiting symptoms and disability from HCM, there are a number of potential therapies available. The Hypertrophic Cardiomyopathy Center can provide recommendations regarding the optimal therapy to relieve or reduce symptoms, including drugs, interventional options such as surgery, pacemaker implantation or alcohol septal ablation.

Ongoing Investigations

• Defining one determinants of risk for sudden death to allow more targeted selection of patients for primary prevention and implantation of a cardiac defibrillator.
• Defining one natural history of HCM an all age groups.
• Using Magnetic Resonance Imaging to enhance diagnostic accuracy and prediction of future events.