Echocardiography in hypertrophic cardiomyopathy – still a chief diagnostic tool

Hypertrophic cardiomyopathy is one of the most common hereditary cardiomyopathies in daily practice. The different phenotypic manifestations and hemodynamic features often make diagnosis and therapy a clinical challenge. Diagnosis and imaging follow-up of cardiomyopathies are becoming increasingly multimodal. Despite the new imaging capabilities, echocardiography continues to play a key role in the primary differential diagnostic process, in the follow-up of patients, regardless of the therapeutic approach taken, and in the screening of relatives. Therefore, good knowledge of echocardiographic methods for assessment in these patients, of practical features and possible errors during the examination, is an essential prerequisite for high quality care. Precise systematic measurements and descriptions of the fi nding in each patient are the basis of good follow-up, adequate management planning and reassessment of therapy, and of seamless team care for the patient by various specialists. Confl icting or inconsistent imaging fi ndings, discrepancies in imaging fi ndings and clinical presentation, and the need for specialized therapy are valid reasons for referring the patient for a staged evaluation to an expert center for HCM.