New strategies for assessing the risk of sudden cardiac death in hypertrophic cardiomyopathy
Jaworski, K.; Możeńska, O.; Kosior, D.A.
Polski Merkuriusz Lekarski Organ Polskiego Towarzystwa Lekarskiego 41(242): 65-69
2016
ISSN/ISBN: 1426-9686 PMID: 27591441 Document Number: 688346
Hypertrophic cardiomyopathy (HCM) is characterized by a primarily increased ventricular wall thickness, usually caused by the mutations in genes encoding sarcomere proteins. Thanks to the growing awareness in the medical community as well as advances in diagnostic techniques HCM can be diagnosed at earlier stages than ever before. However, in some cases the first symptom of this disease is a sudden cardiac death (SCD) and diagnosis remains unknown until post-mortem examination. Implantation of a cardioverterdefibrillator (ICD) provides the most effective method of SCD prevention. Nevertheless, due to a number of risks associated with surgery as well as the possession of such devices, predictive factors of serious ventricular arrhythmia in individual patients have been sought for many years. The aim of this review is to present the current strategies of risk assessment and prevention of SCD in patients with HCM.