A medical professional has raised concerns about a health condition referred to as a ‘silent killer’, which frequently remains undiagnosed.
Following the conclusion of the holiday season, individuals are encouraged to visit their doctors to discuss symptoms they may have ignored during the festivities.
Heart health is critically important, with studies indicating that certain habits can increase the risk of developing serious conditions. Additionally, a surgeon has shared insights into which foods he avoids to maintain a healthy lifestyle.
While cardiovascular health is often associated with heart attacks, there’s another condition gaining attention that warrants vigilance.
Heart attack symptoms are generally more recognizable, but there’s a genetic disorder with lifelong implications that can often remain undetected and might not be widely known.
Hypertrophic cardiomyopathy (HCM) is described by the Mayo Clinic as a ‘disease in which the heart muscle becomes thickened’. This thickening can make it challenging for the heart to effectively circulate blood throughout the body.
The issue with HCM is its tendency to present few or no symptoms, rendering many individuals unaware of their condition.
Despite being difficult to diagnose, untreated HCM can lead to severe complications, such as heart failure.
The Heart Failure Society of America notes that more than 100,000 individuals in the US have been diagnosed with HCM.
Experts suggest HCM is frequently inherited, though research into this ‘silent killer’ continues.
Dr. Theodore Abraham, an echocardiographer at UCSF Health, mentioned: “Although genotyping is important, it’s not the full story for HCM. For half of the people with severe HCM, we haven’t found the causative gene. And just because the gene is present doesn’t mean you have the disease.”
Unfortunately, standard heart ultrasounds are not very effective in detecting HCM. Dr. Abraham elaborated: “Before, patients with HCM and other forms of heart disease would come in, get an echo and often be told, ‘You have nothing wrong — I’ve looked at your echo and it looks great’.
“They’d come back 10 years later and be in really bad shape.”
According to the Mayo Clinic, the common symptoms of HCM include: