The role of echocardiography in hypertrophic cardiomyopathy

Abstract

Hypertrophic cardiomyopathy (HCM) is a disease with a constellation of unique clinical, hemodynamic and echocardiographic features. Over the past decades, echocardiography has played a pivotal role in our understanding of the epidemiology, pathophysiology and prognosis of the condition. Recent advances in echocardiographic techniques have not only expanded our knowledge base but have also extrapolated the role of imaging from that of diagnosis, screening and non-invasive serial assessment to identification of poor prognostic markers, differentiation from phenocopies of HCM and guidance of intraprocedural decision-making in both septal ethanol ablation and surgical myectomy. This article summarizes the recent advances in echocardiography pertaining to HCM.