Background-Surgical myectomy has been the standard treatment for patients with drug-refractory obstructive hypertrophic cardiomyopathy.

Patients treated invasively have an overall survival advantage compared with conservatively treated patients, with the latter group more likely to die from noncardiac causes. The HCM-related mortality is similar, regardless of a conservative versus invasive strategy.

CMR-LGE measured at 4 SD and 5 SD yields the closest approximation to the extent of total fibrosis measured by the histopathological standard of reference. These findings have implications for future investigations of CMR-LGE and its association with important clinical endpoints in HCM, including sudden cardiac death.

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Apical-basal muscle bundles are a unique myocardial structure commonly present in HCM patients as well as in G+/P- family members and may represent an additional morphologic marker for HCM diagnosis in genotype-positive status.

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Hemoglobin raffimer was not associated with any serious adverse events in patients undergoing primary coronary artery bypass grafting with cardiopulmonary bypass and intraoperative autologous donation in a dose-response study up to 1000 mL. Hemoglobin raffimer was effective in facilitating decreased exposure or avoidance of allogeneic red blood cell transfusions when used in conjunction with intraoperative autologous donation.

Mortality after myectomy is no different from expected in the US population. From Ommen et al. 1 Central MessageThere are currently an inadequate number of expert cardiac surgeons performing the septal myectomy operation. Therefore, it is important to promote this procedure and bring cardiac surgery to more patients with severely symptomatic obstructive hypertrophic cardiomyopathy.