Characteristics of the inferior wall hypertrophy in hypertrophic cardiomyopathy patients with contrast echocardiography

We tried to explore the value of contrast echocardiography (CEcho) on evaluating hypertrophic cardiomyopathy (HCM) with the inferior wall hypertrophy. A total of 114 patients with HCM were investigated. All the patients received CEcho and routine echocardiography (Echo), and 45 of them received cardiac magnetic resonance (CMR) and 47 of them received Holter. The frequency and percentage of inferior wall hypertrophy were analyzed in HCM patients, as well as the structure and function. The results showed that: (1) Inferior wall hypertrophy was detected in 55 patients (48%) by Echo, while 68 patients (60%) by CEcho. (2) There was no significant difference between CMR and CEcho in the measurement of inferior wall at end-diastole and end-systole. Thickness of inferior wall by CEcho tended to be higher than CMR. However, the inferior wall thickness measured by Echo was obviously lower than that by CMR ( < 0.05) and CEcho ( < 0.05). (3) Bland-Altman plot suggested good consistency between CEcho and CMR in measuring