Clinical Decision Making in HCM: Beyond Septal Thickness

Hypertrophic cardiomyopathy is commonly encountered in heart failure practice but is often misclassified and managed using HFpEF paradigms. The expansion of exercise testing, genetic testing, and disease-specific therapies has made management more complex and requires new clinical decision-making skills.

This session provides a practical framework for evaluating symptomatic patients, interpreting genetic results, recognizing nonobstructive disease, and selecting contemporary therapies. Case-based discussion will address real-world scenarios frequently seen in heart failure clinics.

Learning Objectives

• Use exercise testing to identify the mechanism of symptoms and distinguish obstructive, nonobstructive, and advanced HCM phenotypes.
• Apply genetic testing results to patient counseling and family screening in hypertrophic cardiomyopathy.
• Choose appropriate therapy for HCM, including medical therapy, myosin inhibitors, septal reduction referral, and advanced heart failure care in complex cases.