{"id":1714,"date":"2021-11-09T02:20:27","date_gmt":"2021-11-09T02:20:27","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.heart-valve-surgery.com\/learning\/?page_id=1714"},"modified":"2023-10-17T19:29:24","modified_gmt":"2023-10-17T19:29:24","slug":"hypertrophic-cardiomyopathy","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/www.heart-valve-surgery.com\/learning\/hypertrophic-cardiomyopathy\/","title":{"rendered":"Hypertrophic Cardiomyopathy &#038; Heart Valve Disease: What Should Patients Know?"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Hypertrophic cardiomyopathy is a unique and misdiagnosed form of heart disease that can be associated with different types of valvular disorders.<\/p>\n<p>To learn more, we interviewed <a href=\"https:\/\/www.heart-valve-surgery.com\/surgeons\/dr-Pietro-Bajona-Pittsburgh-Pennsylvania.php\">Dr. Pietro Bajona<\/a>, a cardiac surgeon that specializes in hypertrophic cardiomyopathy and heart valve disease.\u00a0 During his career, Dr. Bajona has performed over 2,000 cardiac procedures of which more than 500 operations involved heart valve repair or replacement therapies.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\"><iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"YouTube video player\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/rcknGfE7oe8\" width=\"560\" height=\"315\" frameborder=\"0\" allowfullscreen=\"allowfullscreen\"><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<h2>Key Facts About Hypertrophic Cardiomyopathy<\/h2>\n<p>Dr. Bajona shared several important facts and advice specific to hypertrophic cardiomyopathy. Here are the key learnings from this interview:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Dr. Bajona&#8217;s passion for cardiac surgery began when he was eight years old. After reading a story about a heart transplant operation in Life Magazine, Dr. Bajona knew he wanted to be a cardiac surgeon.<\/li>\n<li>Hypertrophic cardiomyopathy is an inherited (genetic) condition in which the heart muscle thickens.\u00a0 The thickening of the heart, specifically the left ventricle, impedes blood-flow out of the heart which can cause symptoms.\u00a0 Hypertrophic cardiomyopathy impacts about 1 in 200 people in the general population.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone size-full wp-image-1720 aligncenter\" src=\"https:\/\/www.heart-valve-surgery.com\/learning\/..\/Images\/Hypertrophic-Cardiomyopathy-What-Is-It.jpg\" alt=\"Hypertrophic Cardiomyopathy\" width=\"700\" height=\"392\" \/><\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Symptoms of hypertrophic cardiomyopathy are variable. The main symptom is shortness of breath.\u00a0 Other symptoms include light headiness, fatigue, passing out (syncope), arrhythmia and a fast heart rate.<\/li>\n<li>A common misdiagnosis is that patients with sleep apnea and asthma actually have hypertrophic cardiomyopathy.<\/li>\n<li>An <a href=\"https:\/\/www.heart-valve-surgery.com\/echocardiogram-stress-doppler-tee.php\">echocardiogram<\/a> is the gold standard for diagnosing hypertrophic cardiomyopathy.<\/li>\n<li>Hypertrophic is treated regularly and successfully. According to Dr. Bajona, the key pathway to a successful treatment is to find a medical team that specializes in this disease.<\/li>\n<li>Treatments for hypertrophic cardiomyopathy include medications, septal reductions (including septal ablation and septal myectomy).<\/li>\n<li>Heart valve disease and hypertrophic cardiomyopathy are related.\u00a0 Patients with <a href=\"https:\/\/www.heart-valve-surgery.com\/aortic-stenosis-valve-heart-narrowing.php\">aortic stenosis<\/a> and <a href=\"https:\/\/www.heart-valve-surgery.com\/mitral-valve-regurgitation-symptoms-leaking.php\">mitral regurgitation<\/a> are often referred to Dr. Bajona.\u00a0 In many of these cases, however, the real problem is the left ventricle thickening and not the patient&#8217;s heart valve.\u00a0 That said, some patients with hypertrophic cardiomyopathy may need heart valve therapy (more commonly for the mitral valve).<\/li>\n<li>Hypertrophic cardiomyopathy does not specifically cause heart valve disease.\u00a0 But, it can cause <a href=\"https:\/\/www.heart-valve-surgery.com\/heart-surgery-blog\/2016\/08\/17\/primary-secondary-mitral-regurgitation\/\">secondary regurgitation<\/a> due to the thickening of the left ventricle.\u00a0 As chronic mitral regurgitation can cause the atrium to enlarge, patients may also suffer from <a href=\"https:\/\/www.heart-valve-surgery.com\/atrial-fibrillation\/\">atrial fibrillation<\/a> as a result of hypertrophic cardiomyopathy.<\/li>\n<li>Dr. Bajona&#8217;s advice for patients is to (i) get informed about hypertrophic cardiomyopathy and (ii) find a cardiac center with a team of specialized and passionate physicians to help you.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<h2>Many Thanks to Dr. Bajona!<\/h2>\n<p>On behalf of our entire patient community, many thanks to Dr. Bajona for sharing his clinical experience and research with our community!<\/p>\n<p>Related Links:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.heart-valve-surgery.com\/surgeons\/dr-Pietro-Bajona-Pittsburgh-Pennsylvania.php\">See Dr. Bajona&#8217;s Interactive Surgeon Profile<\/a><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>Keep on tickin!<br \/>\nAdam<\/p>\n<p>P.S. For the hearing impaired members of our community, I have provided a written transcript of my video interview with Dr. Bajona below.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"parent":0,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"cms.php","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"class_list":["post-1714","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry","category-adams-updates"],"acf":[],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.heart-valve-surgery.com\/learning\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/1714","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.heart-valve-surgery.com\/learning\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.heart-valve-surgery.com\/learning\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.heart-valve-surgery.com\/learning\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.heart-valve-surgery.com\/learning\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1714"}],"version-history":[{"count":25,"href":"https:\/\/www.heart-valve-surgery.com\/learning\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/1714\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3947,"href":"https:\/\/www.heart-valve-surgery.com\/learning\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/1714\/revisions\/3947"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.heart-valve-surgery.com\/learning\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1714"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.heart-valve-surgery.com\/learning\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1714"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}