Compared with common cardiovascular diseases such as coronary heart disease and arrhythmia, hypertrophic cardiomyopathy is slightly unfamiliar in the public’s cognition. However, a “fat” heart is like a hidden “bomb”, which may even cause sudden death in severe cases, posing a threat to the patient’s life safety.

At present, hypertrophic cardiomyopathy mainly relies on traditional drugs for treatment, and surgical thoracotomy is not well accepted by patients due to high risks and large trauma. Therefore, the treatment of hypertrophic cardiomyopathy requires more innovative means to help.

Hypertrophic cardiomyopathy is mainly caused by pathogenic variants in genes encoding sarcomere-related proteins or cardiomyopathy characterized by myocardial hypertrophy with unknown etiology, and the left ventricular wall is most commonly affected. Depending on whether there is obstruction in the left ventricular outflow tract, it can be divided into obstructive hypertrophic cardiomyopathy and non-obstructive hypertrophic cardiomyopathy. Obstructive hypertrophic cardiomyopathy has greater damage to cardiac function and a lower survival rate of patients.

It can be generally understood that a normal heart is like a house with four chambers, while hypertrophic cardiomyopathy mainly thickens the “walls” of the “room” of the left ventricle, which eventually affects the normal pumping function of the heart.

At present, the pathogenesis of hypertrophic cardiomyopathy is not yet fully understood. It is known that the root cause of the disease in some patients is that the gene encoding the sarcomere-related protein has pathogenic mutations, which makes the normal development and functional maintenance of the myocardium abnormal, and then causes symptoms of myocardial hypertrophy.

The common clinical manifestations of hypertrophic cardiomyopathy are not typical, such as fatigue, exertional dyspnea, dizziness, chest pain, palpitations and syncope. Sudden cardiac death is one of the main causes of death in patients with hypertrophic cardiomyopathy. Some young people or athletes die suddenly during exercise, which is likely caused by hypertrophic cardiomyopathy.

There are various means of clinically diagnosing hypertrophic cardiomyopathy, including electrocardiogram, echocardiogram, cardiac magnetic resonance imaging, biomarkers, genetic testing, etc. Among them, echocardiography (cardiac ultrasound) is the preferred, accurate and economical method, but it is usually not included in routine physical examinations.

Hypertrophic cardiomyopathy is difficult to diagnose and has hidden early symptoms, but with the continuous advancement of medical technology and the advent of innovative drugs, especially after the implementation of medical insurance, more patients have affordable innovative treatment options and are better able to adhere to long-term treatment. She called on the public to improve their awareness of the disease, and high-risk groups should be screened in a timely manner to achieve early diagnosis and early treatment.