Resumen de Asymptomatic Hypertrophic Cardiomyopathy: Diagnosis and Therapy

Virginia Luis Fuentes, Lois J. Wilkie

• Asymptomatic hypertrophic cardiomyopathy (HCM) is common, affecting approximately 15% of apparently healthy cats and up to 25% of cats older than 9 years.

  Diagnosis should focus on identifying cats with high-risk HCM: those with increased risk of congestive heart failure or arterial thromboembolism.

  Murmur intensity does not correlate with the severity of HCM, and many high-risk cats have no audible murmur.

  The plasma biomarker pro-brain natriuretic peptide can be used as an initial screening test for high-risk HCM.

  A focused in-house echo to evaluate left atrial size provides important information: left atrial enlargement indicates high-risk HCM.