new procedure

  I HAVE BEEN TOLD ABOUT A NEW PROCEDURE FOR HYPERTROPHIC CARDIOMYOPATHY
  USING AN ALCOHOL DRIP AND AN ANGIOPLASTY TYPE SYSTEM. CAN YOU GIVE ME ANY INFO ?
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Dear Mark:
Hypertrophic obstructive cardiomyopathy (HOCM) has historically been treated by open heart surgery, when medicines are unable to control symptoms.  A procedure being developed by interventional cardiologists attempts to treat HOCM without surgery.  Alcohol is injected down a small branch of one of the heart arteries that supplies the extra heart muscle that is present in people with HOCM. This causes the extra heart muscle to be destroyed (via a mini-heart attack) without having to cut it out surgically.  This relatively new procedure is being performed at only a few specialized centers of which the Cleveland Clinic is one.
If you wish to be evaluated here at the Cleveland Clinic, please call 1-800-CCF-CARE for an appointment with Dr. Tuzcu , an interventional cardiologist who specializes in alcohol ablation for hypertrophic cardiomyopathy.   Information provided in the Heart Forum is for general purposes only.  Specific diagnoses and therapies can only be provided by your doctor.