Clinical improvement in hypertrophic cardiomyopathy after inferior myocardial infarction

[Myocardial SPET in hypertrophic cardiomyopathy]

INTRODUCTION AND OBJECTIVES

The aim of this study was to evaluate the diagnostic accuracy of myocardial SPET in patients with hypertrophic cardiomyopathy (HC).

PATIENTS AND METHODS

One hundred and six consecutive patients (aged 53 +/- 12 years, 50 women, 66 with dynamic obstruction) with an echocardiographic diagnosis of HC were studied with exercise-rest myocardial SPET with 99mTc-tetrofosmin. Forty-six (43%) of these patients had chest pain and in 31 (29%) a coronary angiography was performed. Fifty-six per cent of the patients were treated with beta-blockers and 23% with verapamil.

RESULTS

Angina during the exercise test was observed in only 8% of the patients. Perfusion defects were observed in 35% of the patients. Only 8 (26%) out of the 31 patients with angiography had coronary artery disease (stenosis > 50%). When fixed and reversible defects were considered as positive, the sensitivity was 50%, the specificity was 65%, the positive predictive value was 33% and the negative predictive value was 79%.

CONCLUSIONS

Myocardial perfusion defects can be observed in more than one third of medically treated patients with HC. Only a quarter of catheterized patients, even with chest pain, have associated coronary artery disease. The accuracy of SPET for the diagnosis of coronary artery disease in hypertrophic cardiomyopathy is low. Thus, the value of this technique is limited in these patients.

Prevalence of systolic anterior motion of the mural (posterior) leaflet of the mitral valve in hypertrophic cardiomyopathy: an echocardiographic study

Cross-sectional echocardiography was used to identify systolic anterior motion of the mural (posterior) leaflet of the mitral valve from a group of 53 patients with hypertrophic cardiomyopathy. This type of systolic anterior motion was identified in parasternal long axis, apical four-chamber and/or long-axis cross-sections and was characterized by an elongation of the mural leaflet and an abnormal coaptation with the aortic (anterior) leaflet. At end-diastole, the aortic leaflet coapted at the basal or mid portion of the mural leaflet, leaving its distal "residual" segment in the left ventricle. Subsequently, during systole this "residual" segment approached or touched the ventricular septum. Systolic anterior motion of the mural leaflet was present in 6 (12%) of our patients with hypertrophic cardiomyopathy. Lengthening of the leaflet and an abnormal coaptation were associated with increased thickening of the posterior wall of the left ventricle and narrowing of the left ventricular outflow tract. All these elements contribute to the occurrence of systolic anterior motion and left ventricular tract obstruction.