HCM Management and SPEED: Suspicion, Early Intervention, Echocardiography, and Diagnosis

HCM Management and SPEED: Suspicion, Early Intervention, Echocardiography, and Diagnosis is organized by Med-IQ.

Released: 3/5/2025
Expires: 3/4/2026

Overview:
In this accredited CME/CNE activity, cardiologist Dr. Matthew Martinez reviews key considerations and updates in the diagnosis and management of hypertrophic cardiomyopathy (HCM). Specifically, he explores the disease burden and the dire consequences of undiagnosed HCM, the difficulty in diagnosing HCM including lack of symptoms or presence of nonspecific symptoms, best practices for ordering echocardiograms, and guideline recommendations for treatment, including mavacamten. The informational session also discusses communicating with patients and caregivers/families.

Learning Objectives:
Upon completion, participants should be able to:

• Summarize new HCM guidelines and the latest clinical and real-world data regarding oHCM and the use of mavacamten
• Integrate methods for the early, accurate diagnosis of oHCM
• Employ methods for improving the use of echocardiography to diagnose oHCM

Statement of Need:
Although hypertrophic cardiomyopathy (HCM) is a relatively common disease, it is often misdiagnosed or undiagnosed because of insufficient awareness among clinicians. This gap in knowledge is fueled by several factors. First, patients often lack symptoms or have nonspecific symptoms; when symptoms are present, they are heterogeneous, making it difficult to identify a clear pattern. In addition, HCM can affect people of all ages, genders, races, and ethnicities, which contributes to the challenge of identifying the condition. Finally, the incorrect interpretation of echocardiograms and the failure to obtain the proper type of echocardiogram remain significant barriers to diagnosis.

Once HCM is diagnosed, the patient burden is often high due to physical limitations, intense medication regimens, poor quality of life, and psychological effects. Treatment options and guidelines are complex, and the consequences of untreated obstructive HCM are grave.

Notably, the therapeutic landscape has changed in recent years with updated guideline recommendations and a new treatment option—mavacamten. Therefore, cardiology care team members need to know how to correctly diagnose and manage patients with HCM according to the latest data and guideline recommendations. Specifically, they need to understand available treatment options, including mavacamten and its unique mechanism of action, as well how to incorporate it into treatment algorithms.