Subaortic and mid-ventricular obstructive hypertrophic cardiomyopathy with an apical aneurysm: A case report

Abstract

Background: Most patients with hypertrophic cardiomyopathy (HCM) have asymmetric septal hypertrophy and among them, 25% present dynamic subaortic obstruction. Apical HCM is unusual and mid-ventricular HCM is the most infrequent presentation, but both variants may be associated to an apical aneurysm. An even more rare presentation is the coexistece mid-ventricular and apical HCM. This case is a combination of obstructive HCM with mid-ventricular HCM and an apical aneurysm, which to date, has not been reported in the literature. Case presentation: The patient is a 49 year-old lady who presents a combination of septal asymmetric hypertrophic cardiomyopathy (HCM) and mid-ventricular HCM, a subaortic gradient of 65 mm Hg and a midventricular gradient of 20 mm Hg, plus an apical aneurysm. Her clinical presentation was an acute myocardial infarction in June 2005. One month after hospital discharge, the electrocardiogram (ECG) showed a right bundle branch block (RBBB) with no Q waves or ST segment elevation. Coronary angiography revealed normal coronary arteries, left ventricular hypertrophy and an apical aneurysm. Conclusion: This case is a rare example of an asymptomatic patient with subaortic and midventricular hypertrophic cardiomyopathy, who presents a myocardial infarction and normal coronary arteries, and during the course of her disease develops an apical aneurysm. © 2006 Cianciulli et al; licensee BioMed Central Ltd.