Cardiomyopathy is occurring because of the abnormal heart muscle. Cardiomyopathyclassified in three main types: restrictive cardiomyopathy, dilated cardiomyopathy, hypertrophic myopathy. Cardiomyopathy, makes heart challenging to pump and deliver blood to the rest of your body. With times, it leads to cardiac arrest.  

Hypertrophic obstructive cardiomyopathy (HOCM) is a disease in that the muscles of the heart becomes thickened. When the muscular septum of the heart becomes too think, it starts to obstruct the pump out blood from the heart to rest of the body, and eventually might cause the mitral valve leaky (regurgitation).

Hypertrophic obstructive cardiomyopathy is a genetic disease that generally runs in families, but can also occur spontaneously in people without a family history. Symptoms include shortness of breath, light-headedness, chest pain, palpitations, and fatigue. It is a common cause of sudden unexplained death, especially in young people.

The operation for HOCM is called septal myectomy. Septal myectomy is performed in patients who have symptoms despite medical therapy, or if the obstruction severely restricts blood ejection from the heart. Patients often experience rapid relief of symptoms after the procedure, and the effects are long-lasting. 

A septal myectomy is an open-heart procedure in which the surgeon removes part of the thickened, overgrown septum between the ventricles. Removing part of this thick muscle improves blood flow and reduces mitral regurgitation.

Septal myectomy is the procedure of choice for treating hypertrophic cardiomyopathy (HCM). However, it involves the risk of incomplete resection of septal muscles or iatrogenic septal perforation depending on the surgeon’s practice. Herein, we suggest a few tips for successful septal myectomy and present a relevant case.