Chapters authored
Cardiac Imaging in Hypertrophic Cardiomyopathy
Hypertrophic cardiomyopathy (HCM) is a relatively common inherited cardiomyopathy, which is occasionally challenging to differentiate from hypertensive heart disease and athlete hearts on the basis of morphologic or functional abnormalities alone. Imaging studies provide solutions for most clinical needs, from diagnosis, anatomical and functional assessment, family screening, risk stratification, to monitoring of treatment response. Generally, transthoracic echocardiography is used as first-line imaging tool to establish the diagnosis. A multimodality imaging approach (cardiac magnetic resonance, cardiac computed tomography, and cardiac nuclear imaging) is also encouraged in the assessment of these patients. The choice of imaging tool should be based on a broad perspective and expert knowledge of what each technique has to offer, including its specific advantages and disadvantages. In this chapter, we discuss the utility and pitfalls of established imaging modalities and discuss the evolving role of novel echocardiographic imaging modalities.
Part of the book: Echocardiography in Heart Failure and Cardiac Electrophysiology