Quantitative Assessment of Hypertrophic Obstructive Cardiomyopathy With Intraoperative Three-dimensional Transesophageal Echocardiography Under Provocative Dobutamine Stress Test

Hypertrophic cardiomyopathy (HCM) is the most common genetic cardiomyopathy. Echocardiography is the noninvasive method of choice for the evaluation of morphologic and functional abnormalities in HCM. It is of paramount importance to distinguish between obstructive or non-obstructive HCM, based on the presence or absence of left ventricle outflow tract (LVOT) gradient using continuous wave Doppler (CWD), under resting and/or provocable conditions. HCM can then be divided into three different subgroups. When the gradient at rest is ≥ 30 mmHg the HCM is considered obstructive (HOCM); when the gradient is \<30 mmHg at rest but ≥ 30 mmHg with provocation, the HCM is considered latent obstructive, and finally, non-obstructive occurs when the gradient is \< 30mmHg at rest or with provocation. The gold standard technique to treat symptomatic HOCM is the surgical transaortic septal myectomy, when the resting gradient or the provocable gradient is ≥50 mmHg. Hemodynamic conditions may change and lead to worsening or improvement in LVOT obstruction during general anesthesia. LVOT gradients during surgery should be measured under reproducible conditions possibly mimicking preoperative hemodynamics. Dobutamine is a well-known inotropic agent, capable to induce sub-aortic gradients in HOCM. The development of a dynamic LVOT gradient during this test is a pharmacological phenomenon with no clinical significance, not been associated with increased frequency of chest pain, shortness of breath or ischemic wall motion abnormalities, because obstruction resolves after termination of dobutamine (DBT) infusion.