The thickening reduces the size of the pumping chamber and obstructs blood flow. It also prevents the heart from properly relaxing between beats and so filling with blood. Eventually, this limits the pumping action. Hypertrophic cardiomyopathy is a rare disease, occurring in no more than 0.2 percent of the U.S. population. It can affect men and women of all ages.
Symptoms can appear in childhood or adulthood.
Most cases of hypertrophic cardiomyopathy are inherited. Because of this, a patient's family members often are checked for signs of the disease, although the signs may be much less evident or even absent in them. In other cases, there is no clear cause. Symptoms Many patients have no symptoms. For those who do, the most common are breathlessness and chest discomfort.