Overview

What Is Hypertrophic Cardiomyopathy?

Hypertrophic cardiomyopathy (HCM) is a genetic disease that causes your heart muscle to thicken abnormally, called hypertrophy. This thickened heart muscle can make it harder for your heart to pump blood. Often, HCM impacts your interventricular septum, the heart muscle wall that separates the two ventricles, or lower pumping chambers of your heart.

The term cardiomyopathy indicates that the increase in muscle thickness is because of a disease of the muscle itself, and not caused by other heart conditions. The thickened heart muscle is also stiffer than normal, which means it is not able to relax as easily and fill with blood between each heartbeat.

Hypertrophic cardiomyopathy facts

  • HCM is the most common genetic disease of the heart; 1 in 500 people have it.
  • It is most often diagnosed in your 20s or 30s, but may be found at any age.
  • HCM is the most common cause of sudden cardiac death in young people and athletes
Northwestern Medicine provides access to a team of board-certified cardiologists and cardiac surgeons, who collaborate to provide progressive strategies to diagnose, treat and stabilize your hypertrophic cardiomyopathy. Our goal is to help you return to normal activities, while improving your overall quality of life.

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