Detection of apical hypertrophic cardiomyopathy by cardiovascular magnetic resonance in patients with non-diagnostic echocardiography.

OBJECTIVE

To investigate the role of cardiovascular magnetic resonance (CMR) in a series of patients with ECG repolarisation changes and normal echocardiography.

PATIENTS AND DESIGN

10 patients with anterolateral T wave inversion for which there was no obvious pathological cause who had normal routine echocardiography without contrast for the exclusion of hypertrophic cardiomyopathy (HCM) also had CMR that was diagnostic of apical HCM.

RESULTS

Apical HCM detected by CMR could be morphologically severe with wall thickness up to 28 mm, or mild. The extent of repolarisation abnormalities did not correlate to the morphological severity.

CONCLUSIONS

In patients with unexplained repolarisation abnormalities, a normal routine echocardiogram without contrast does not exclude apical HCM. Further imaging with CMR or contrast echocardiography may be required. The reliance on routine echocardiography to exclude apical HCM may have led to underreporting of this condition.