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Anesthesia for older patients with hypertrophic cardiomyopathy: Is there cause for concern?
Timothy Angelotti1, Andrea Fuller, Luis Rivera
1Department of Anesthesia, Stanford University School of Medicine, Stanford, CA 94305, USA. timangel@stanford.edu
Insights
Late-onset hypertrophic cardiomyopathy (HCM) can be silent until advanced age. Preoperative echocardiography is crucial for diagnosing HCM in older patients presenting with systolic murmurs.
Area of Science:
- Cardiology
- Anesthesiology
Background:
- Hypertrophic cardiomyopathy (HCM) is often undiagnosed in older adults.
- Late-onset HCM may present subtly, with only a systolic murmur detected preoperatively.
Observation:
- Two elderly patients with probable late-onset HCM were diagnosed via perioperative echocardiography.
- Initial cardiac examination revealed only a systolic murmur in both cases.
Findings:
- Perioperative echocardiography is effective for diagnosing HCM in older patients.
- An algorithm for evaluating preoperative murmurs in suspected HCM is presented.
Implications:
- Understanding HCM progression in older populations is vital for anesthetic management.
- Tailored anesthetic strategies are necessary for elderly patients with HCM.
Abstract:
Hypertrophic cardiomyopathy (HCM) may remain clinically silent and undiagnosed until patients reach advanced age. We describe 2 older patients with previously undetected and probable late-onset HCM whose preoperative cardiac examination revealed only the presence of a systolic murmur. Both patients were diagnosed with HCM by perioperative echocardiography. We provide an algorithm for the evaluation of murmurs detected during the preoperative anesthesia evaluation, with emphasis on the clinical characteristics of HCM, and we discuss the perioperative management of these patients. In addition, recent findings concerning the natural progression of HCM are discussed, revealing differences between HCM in younger patient populations and that in older patient populations and its implications for anesthetic management.
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