Apical Hypertrophic Cardiomyopathy

Apical Hypertrophic Cardiomyopathy

by SMITTY - 2009-01-19 10:01:30

Maybe this will help.

Apical hypertrophic cardiomyopathy first described in individuals of Japanese descent) ss a non-obstructive variant of hypertrophic cardiomyopathy. HCM or HOCM, is a disease of the myocardium (the muscle of the heart) in which a portion of the myocardium is hypertrophied (thickened) without any obvious cause. It is perhaps most famous as a leading cause of sudden cardiac death in young athletes The occurrence of hypertrophic cardiomyopathy is a significant cause of sudden unexpected cardiac death in any age group and as a cause of disabling cardiac symptoms.

A cardiomyopathy is a primary disease that affects the muscle of the heart. With hypertrophic cardiomyopathy (HCM), the sarcomeres (contractile elements) in the heart replicate causing heart muscle cells to increase in size and so the heart muscle to thicken. In addition, the normal alignment of muscle cells is disrupted, a phenomenon known as myocardial disarray. HCM also causes disruptions of the electrical functions of the heart. HCM is most commonly due to a mutation in one of 9 sarcomeric genes that results in a mutated protein in the sarcomere, the primary component of the myocyte (the muscle cell of the heart). Depending on whether the distortion of normal heart anatomy causes an obstruction of the outflow of blood from the left ventricle of the heart, HCM can be defined as obstructive or non-obstructive. The obstructive variant of HCM, Hypertrophic obstructive cardiomyopathy (HOCM) has also historically been known as idiopathic hypertrophic subaortic stenosis (IHSS) and asymmetric septal hypertrophy (ASH).

While most literature focuses on European, American, and Japanese populations, HCM appears in all racial groups. The incidence of HCM is about 0.2% to 0.5% of the general population.