Coil Embolization of Septal Branches in Hypertrophic Obstructive Cardiomyopathy

Hypertrophic cardiomyopathy (HCM) has been associated with sudden death in young athletes. On long-term follow up, syncope, chest pain and dyspnea are well known frequent symptoms due to the dynamic left ventricular outflow tract (LVOT) obstruction, mitral regurgitation and diastolic dysfunction. To reduce the LVOT pressure gradient, septal myectomy and alcohol injection have recently been utilized. However, some complications have been reported with alcohol ablation of the septal branches, such as complete atrioventricular block and alcohol spill over to ablate the entire left anterior descending coronary artery. Herein, a case of coil embolization of the septal branches, with successful reduction of the LVOT pressure gradient, is reported in a patient with HOCM. (Korean Circulation J 2004;34 (7):706-710)