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Symptoms of hypertrophic cardiomyopathy
Last reviewed: 06.07.2025
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Symptoms of hypertrophic cardiomyopathy are polymorphic and nonspecific, ranging from asymptomatic forms to severe impairment of functional status and sudden death.
In young children, the detection of hypertrophic cardiomyopathy is often associated with the development of signs of congestive heart failure, which develops in them more often than in older children and adults.
The main complaints in older children are:
- rapid fatigue;
- shortness of breath during physical exertion, and in some patients even at rest, at night, is caused by venous congestion of blood in the lungs due to diastolic dysfunction of the hypertrophied left ventricle;
- cardialgia, which is associated with a discrepancy between coronary blood flow and myocardial mass; the development of myocardial ischemia is influenced by disturbances in the relaxation process of the heart muscle, increased intramyocardial tension and compression of intramural coronary vessels;
- dizziness and fainting, in some cases associated with a sharp decrease in cardiac output due to worsening obstruction of blood ejection from the left ventricle, in children they often occur during physical exertion and emotional stress.
- the sensation of heartbeat, “interruptions” in the work of the heart, syncope may be caused by disturbances in the heart rhythm.
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