Abstract 12082: Cardiomyogenesis in Hypertrophic Cardiomyopathy

Hypertrophic cardiomyopathy (HCM) is the most prevalent heritable cardiovascular disease and the leading cause of sudden death in young adults. HCM is characterized by regional ventricular hypertrophy in the absence of cavitary dilation, myofibrillar disarray, mutations of sarcomeric proteins and collagen accumulation. Septal hypertrophy has been viewed as the result of an increase in size of preexisting myocytes, but whether myocyte formation contributes to septal thickening has never been determined. Thus, 50 patients with obstructive HCM undergoing septal myectomy were studied, and 14 sex- and age-matched septa, collected from patients who died from non-cardiovascular causes were used as controls. Mutations of genes coding for contractile proteins were present in 34 cases of HCM. The majority of patients, 67%, were in NYHA class III and mean LV outflow tract gradient was 81 mmHg. Arrhythmic events consisting of atrial fibrillation and ventricular tachycardia were seen in 15 patients. In 11 cases, HCM w...