The hypertrophic cardiomyopathy care team creates a treatment plan based on your specific condition. These treatment options can prevent sudden cardiac death, fix irregular heartbeats and keep your heart beating well.
Since our clinic is the only one in Georgia to specialize in HCM, we offer treatments that aren’t available at many hospitals. You can find all the care you need in one place with Emory Healthcare.
Your treatment plan may include:
- Medicines — You may need to take medication to keep your heart healthy. Some drugs help your heart operate more efficiently by relaxing your heart muscle. Others fix an irregular heart rhythm. If you have atrial fibrillation (A-Fib), a type of irregular heartbeat, your doctor may give you blood thinners to reduce your risk of a blood clot.
- Implantable Cardiac Defibrillators (ICDs) — Your doctor can implant a small ICD into your chest during surgery. If you are at risk of sudden cardiac death due to an irregular heartbeat, you may need an ICD. The ICD monitors your heartbeat at all times. If you have a life-threatening irregular heartbeat, the ICD gives your heart a small, painless electric shock to get it beating again. ICDs can prevent sudden cardiac death.
- Pacemakers — Pacemakers are small devices implanted in your chest during surgery. The device gives your heart tiny electrical shocks to get it to beat in a regular rhythm. They are not used as often as ICDs for hypertrophic cardiomyopathy.
- Catheter-based therapy (Alcohol Septal Ablation) — During this minimally invasive procedure, your doctor injects a special type of alcohol into the arteries around the thickened part of your heart. The alcohol destroys part of the thickened heart muscle so that your blood flows easier and your symptoms improve.
- Cardiac Surgery (Septal Myectomy) — If medicines and other treatments don’t help you, your doctor may recommend that you have heart surgery to remove a part of your thickened heart muscle. This could help the blood to flow more easily through your heart.
