Cardiology

This article was funded by Sanofi and is intended for healthcare professionals.

Fabian Knebel, Sana Klinikum, Berlin, Germany, and Department of Cardiology and Angiology, Charité Campus Mitte, Berlin, Germany, opened the podcast with a definition of hypertrophic cardiomyopathy (HCM), which is characterised by left ventricular hypertrophy. Knebel then described the symptoms of the condition, such as shortness of breath and syncope after physical exertion.

Hannah Gower | Cardiology and Internal Medicine Speciality Registrar, Royal Cornwall Hospitals NHS Trust, UK

Andrew R.J. Mitchell | Consultant Cardiologist at Jersey General Hospital, Saint Helier, Jersey; Honorary Consultant Cardiologist at Oxford University Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust, UK

An estimated 65 million people worldwide have moderate or severe chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), an umbrella term used to describe a group of progressive lung diseases that obstruct airflow such as emphysema and chronic bronchitis. Smoking contributes to an estimated 90% of COPD cases, as the harmful chemicals produced during tobacco combustion damage the lungs and airways. Although smoking cessation is the only intervention shown to improve COPD prognosis in smokers, many patients who try to quit continue to smoke.

Amyloid light-chain (AL) amyloidosis is a rare systemic disease caused by plasma cell dyscrasia. These plasma cells produce excess Ig light chains, which can misfold, aggregate, and deposit in tissues, resulting in toxicity and organ dysfunction. The heart is among the most commonly affected organs and cardiac involvement is associated with significantly worse outcomes.

Caseous mitral annular calcification (CMAC), sometimes called liquefaction necrosis of mitral annular calcification (MAC), is a rare variant of MAC, a chronic degenerative process that progresses with age.

Obstructive HCM is a condition in which the heart has thickened walls that are not caused by blockage of the heart valves or by very high blood pressure. For the majority of patients, the cause of their disease has a genetic basis and is hereditary. A genetic test can diagnose HCM in some patients, but the results are inconclusive in others.