Treatment

Knowing that you have hypertrophic cardiomyopathy (HCM) is important so that your treatment can start as quickly as possible.

Your treatment plan will depend on several factors including:

• How much thickening you have in your heart muscle, and if it is obstructing or slowing blood flow leaving the heart
• How well your heart is pumping
• Your symptoms, such as any signs of heart failure or irregular heart rhythms
• Your risk of sudden cardiac death
• How the condition is affecting your life
• Your preferences and goals for care

Treatment may include a combination of medications, procedures, lifestyle changes, and ongoing follow-up visits and tests. Your care team will talk to you about the testing and treatment options, including the risks and benefits.

The overall goal of treatment will be to:

• Ease any symptoms for example, chest pain, heart failure, palpitations
• Prevent or lessen complications, such as blood clots, heart failure, or dangerous heart rhythms that can lead to sudden cardiac death

Treating other conditions that can affect your heart is also important—high blood pressure, high cholesterol, diabetes, smoking, sleep apnea, carrying too much weight. These all can make HCM worse.

Shared Decision-Making

With HCM, screening and treatment decisions are not always clear cut. What might be the right choice for one person may not be the one for another. Shared decision-making can help you work with your care team to find the right option for you.

In shared decision-making, you should speak up and let your care team know what is most important to you. With your values and goals in mind, you and your care team will review your treatment options, and the risks and benefits of each.

Together you will personalize your care decisions.