Recent advances in diagnosis and management of hypertrophic cardiomyopathy.

Hypertrophic cardiomyopathy (HCM) is characterised by a thickened but non-dilated left ventricle in the absence of another cardiac or systemic condition capable of producing the magnitude of hypertrophy evident. It is the most common familial genetic disease of the heart (1/500 to 1/1000), as well as the most common cause of sudden cardiac death in young people and athletes. Survival rates of patients with HCM have improved from the 1960s onwards. Natural history in patients with HCM might vary from developing severe heart failure or atrial fibrillation, some die suddenly, often at a young age and in the absence of previous symptoms. Because of its heterogeneous clinical course and expression, HCM frequently presents uncertainty and represents a management dilemma to cardiovascular specialists and other practitioners.