Alcohol septal ablation in hypertrophic cardiomyopathy: For which patients?

Percutaneous and surgical therapies for septal reduction for hypertrophic cardiomyopathy have been going head-to-head for the past 20 years with similar outcomes and mortality rates, although contemporary myectomy seems to materialize its superiority. However, on closer analysis, the external validity of studies advocating myectomy does not translate to all centres. The aim of this review was to examine the most recent data on septal reduction therapy and to attempt to phenotype the appropriate patient for each of the two treatments. The key to similar low mortality rates between ventricular septal myectomy and alcohol septal ablation appears to be proper patient selection performed in high volume clinical environments. Furthermore, we analyse the role of mavacampten (the recently approved cardiac myosin inhibitor) in replacing or complementing the two septal reduction therapies.