Archive for July 2022
Can HCM Patients Use Alcohol, Chocolate, & Coffee?
We hear many different claims about what HCM patients (or heart patients in general) should or shouldn’t eat and drink. This is a big topic, and for much of it, the science doesn’t have simple answers – at least not yet. But it turns out that there are some answers for three things that many people like (and many people won’t touch): wine, chocolate, and coffee.
Read MoreNYHA Class Categories
Doctors usually classify patients’ heart failure according to the severity of their symptoms. The table below describes the most commonly used classification system, the New York Heart Association (NYHA) Functional Classification1. It places patients in one of four categories based on how much they are limited during physical activity. In the HCM community, this NYHA…
Read MoreACC: ORIGINAL INVESTIGATIONS Myosin Inhibition in Patients With Obstructive Hypertrophic Cardiomyopathy Referred for Septal Reduction Therapy
BACKGROUND Septal reduction therapy (SRT), surgical myectomy, or alcohol ablation, is recommended for obstructive hypertrophic cardiomyopathy (oHCM) patients with intractable symptoms despite maximal medical therapy but is associated with morbidity and mortality. OBJECTIVES This study sought to determine whether the oral myosin inhibitor mavacamten enables patients to improve sufficiently to no longer meet guideline criteria…
Read MoreTraining and Experience Count: Myectomy is Safest at High-Volume Centers
Myectomy is safest at high-volume centers.
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