The role of echocardiography in the assessment of hypertrophic cardiomyopathy

Echocardiography has greatly simplified the diagnosis of hypertrophic cardiomyopathy and routine haemodynamic studies are usually only required in patients being considered for myectomy or the assessment of coexistent coronary disease. A complete echo Doppler study should be performed in all patients with hypertrophic cardiomyopathy to define the degree of obstruction, the degree of asymmetric hypertrophy and abnormalities of diastolic function. In this manner the patient can be classified according to haemodynamic subgroup, thus influencing the choice of treatment and helping to determine prognosis. These studies also provide a simple quantitative method of assessing the beneficial effects of medical or surgical therapy.