Cardiac MR imaging of hypertrophic cardiomyopathy: Techniques, findings, and clinical relevance

Hypertrophic cardiomyopathy (HCM) is a relatively common myocardial genetic disease having a wide variety of symptoms and prognoses. The most serious complications of HCM are sudden cardiac death induced by ventricular arrhythmia or inappropriate changes in blood pressure, and heart failure. Cardiac MR imaging is a valuable imaging method for detecting HCM because of its accurate measurement of wall thickness and myocardial mass without limited view and the unique ability of late gadolinium enhancement (LGE) to identify myocardial fibrosis related to the prognosis of HCM. Tagging and T₁ or T₂ mapping MR imaging techniques have emerged as quantitative methods for the evaluation of disease severity. In this review, we introduce the MR imaging techniques applied to HCM and demonstrate the typical phenotypes and some morphological characteristics of HCM. In addition, we discuss the clinical relevance of MR imaging for risk stratification and management of HCM.