[Hypertrophic myocardiopathy. Course and prognosis. 60 cases]

The evolution of 60 cases of hypertrophic cardiomyopathy over a mean period of 6.3 years is described. The cases were separated according to echo-cardiographic findings into 4 categories: obstructive cardiomyopathy (29 cases), asymmetrical septal hypertrophy (22 cases), diffuse cardiomyopathy (6 cases) and apical cardiomyopathy (3 cases). A number of complications occurred during the follow-up, consisting of cardiac failure (20 cases), embolic accident (9 cases), aortic endocarditis (1 case) and arrhythmia (32 cases including 12 cases of supraventricular arrhythmia and 20 cases of ventricular arrhythmia). Five patients died suddenly. These data are compared with those obtained from the literature in an attempt to determine the main prognostic factors in hypertrophic cardiomyopathy.