Mayo Clinic Minute: Know the warning signs of hypertrophic cardiomyopathy
It’s typically silent however is usually a lethal killer. Hypertrophic cardiomyopathy is a genetic situation that happens in 1 in 500 folks.
Dr. Said Alsidawi, a Mayo Clinic cardiologist, says the downside is that many individuals do not even know they’ve it as a result of they haven’t any signs. And in 20% of circumstances, the first presentation is sudden cardiac dying.
Journalists: Broadcast-quality video (1:07) is in the downloads at the finish of this publish. Please courtesy: “Mayo Clinic News Network.” Read the script.
Hypertrophic cardiomyopathy is a genetic situation that causes the coronary heart muscle to thicken, making it tougher to pump blood and generally inflicting an irregular coronary heart rhythm.
“So right now, what we think in the United States, we’ve only diagnosed 1/7 of the people who have hypertrophic cardiomyopathy. So we’re trying to increase the awareness in the community about this disease,” says Dr. Alsidawi.
He says sufferers are born with a genetic mutation. The illness can start at a younger age or later in life — many occasions with no signs.
“We know the patients that we lose to this condition, the majority of them are young, active and athletes. So high-level athletic exercise can put you at higher risk of sudden cardiac death,” says Dr. Alsidawi.
He says it is necessary to hunt medical attention you probably have any signs, particularly with exertion, “including shortness of breath, chest pain, lightheaded, dizzy or passing out.”
If identified, the excellent news is hypertrophic cardiomyopathy might be handled with drugs, surgical procedure, implanting a defibrillator that displays the coronary heart or, in extreme circumstances, heart transplantation.
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