The therapeutic focus in severe hypertrophic obstructive cardiomyopathy with multivessel coronary disease

The association of severe hypertrophic obstructive cardiomyopathy and coronary artery disease increases surgical morbimortality, even more in patients over 65 years. We describe a combined therapeutic approach to these diseases. A 68-year-old woman with a diagnosis of hypertrophic obstructive cardiomyopathy was in functional class IV for angina and dyspnea despite 360 mg of propranolol a day. An echocardiogram and a complete cardiac catheterization were performed under betablocker therapy, confirming a severe hypertrophic obstructive cardiomyopathy and revealing severe stenosis in the proximal left circumflex and the proximal right coronary arteries, and a moderate lesion in the mid-left anterior descendent. They were both treated with balloon PTCA, and a 3 x 15 mm stent was placed in the circumflex and a 3.5 x 20 mm stent in the right coronary, with an excellent angiographic result. A basal hemodynamic study was then performed and A-V sequential pacing was attempted, achieving a significant decrease in the left ventricle outflow tract gradient. A DDD-R pacemaker was implanted. Echocardiographic study was performed post-implantation, and follow-up was made six months later with a new coronary angiography, hemodynamic study and a Doppler echocardiogram. At the present time A-V sequential pacing as a therapeutic option for hypertrophic obstructive cardiomyopathy and coronary angioplasty and stenting for the treatment of coronary artery disease are sufficiently established and supported to be offered as a combined therapy to patients suffering from both diseases, specially those with a higher surgical risk.