The goal of treatment is to relieve symptoms and prevent sudden cardiac death in people at high risk. Specific treatment varies depending on the severity of your symptoms. Your doctor will discuss with you the most appropriate treatment for your condition.
The options include:
Medication. You may be given medications to relax the heart muscle and to slow the heart rate so that the heart can pump more efficiently. Your doctor may recommend beta blockers such as metoprolol (Lopressor, Toprol), propranolol (Inderal, Innopran XL) or atenolol (Tenormin), calcium channel blockers such as verapamil (Verelan, Calan, Covera-HS) or diltiazem (Cardizem, Tiazac, Dilacor XR), or medications to control your heart rhythm such as amiodarone (Cordarone, Pacerone) or disopyramide (Norpace).
If you have atrial fibrillation, your doctor may prescribe blood thinners such as warfarin (Coumadin, Jantoven), dabigatran (Pradaxa), rivaroxaban (Xarelto) or apixaban (Eliquis) to reduce your risk of blood clots.
Septal myectomy. A septal myectomy is an open-heart procedure in which the surgeon removes part of the thickened, overgrown septum between the ventricles. Removing part of this overgrown muscle improves blood flow and reduces mitral regurgitation. Surgeons may conduct this procedure using different approaches, depending on the location of the thickened heart muscle. Surgeons may sometimes perform mitral valve repair at the same time as a myectomy.
A myectomy may be recommended if medications don't relieve your symptoms. Most people who have a myectomy have no further symptoms. Septal myectomy is available only in medical centers that specialize in the treatment of hypertrophic cardiomyopathy.
- Septal ablation. In septal ablation, a small portion of the thickened heart muscle is destroyed by injecting alcohol through a long, thin tube (catheter) into the artery supplying blood to that area. This procedure may improve your symptoms. Possible complications with this procedure include heart block — a disruption of the heart's electrical system — which requires implantation of a pacemaker.
Implantable cardioverter-defibrillator (ICD). Doctors may recommend an ICD if you have life-threatening heart rhythm disorders (arrhythmias) such as ventricular tachycardia or ventricular fibrillation. An ICD is a small device that continuously monitors your heartbeat. It's implanted in your chest like a pacemaker.
If a life-threatening arrhythmia occurs, the ICD delivers precisely calibrated electrical shocks to restore a normal heart rhythm. Your doctor may recommend an ICD if you have hypertrophic cardiomyopathy and you're at high risk of sudden cardiac death because of abnormal heart rhythms.