Cardiologist Visit

At the Cardiovascular Department of the Hospital Papa Giovanni XXIII of Bergamo there is a dedicated outpatient clinic for the diagnosis and treatment of all forms of hypertrophic cardiomyopathy.

Dedicated and experienced cardiologists personally follow the patients, both during the outpatient visit and during the diagnostic path, using the most innovative diagnostic methods available. Moreover, the close collaboration with the main international referral centers for hypertrophic cardiomyopathy has allowed us to develop several innovative research programs.

Surgical Therapy

In the last 20 years our Centre has developed an extensive programme for the surgical treatment of obstructive hypertrophic cardiomyopathy, obtaining over the years results similar to those of the international referral centres.  The surgical technique of myectomy has been improved over the years, using advanced surgical techniques that have allowed to treat even forms of obstruction with more complex anatomy, associated with failure of the mitral valve, avoiding the use of artificial mitral prostheses and thus preserving the mitral valve of the patient.

Paediatric Cardiology

The Centre dedicated to Hypertrophic Cardiomyopathy of ASST Papa Giovanni XXIII also deals with paediatric patients. In collaboration with Paediatric Cardiology, an outpatient service is available for the diagnosis and treatment of hypertrophic cardiomyopathy. There are specialized protocols shared with the Laboratory of Medical Genetics for the diagnosis of secondary forms of hypertrophic cardiomyopathy, metabolic and/or neuro-muscular. In collaboration with paediatric cardiac surgery, our Centre is able to treat  surgically even the most complex forms of obstructive hypertrophic cardiomyopathy.

Cardiac Transplant

Since 1985, the Hospital of Bergamo has been running a heart transplant program for both adult and paediatric patients, thus providing a complete treatment for advanced heart failure.  In particular, more than 50 patients suffering from hypertrophic cardiomyopathy with advanced heart failure (the so-called “End Stage”), have been transplanted in our Centre. This thirty-year experience has allowed us to develop advanced knowledge and  treatment techniques, both in the pre- and post-transplant phases, ensuring excellent survival for both adult and paediatric patients.

Electrophysiology

The arrhythmic aspects of hypertrophic cardiomyopathy are discussed in collaboration with the USS Cardiologist specialists in Electrophysiology.

It is possible to manage all the arrhythmic complications of the pathology and, if necessary, to perform implants of devices such as pacemakers or automatic defibrillators (ICD).

The most complex arrhythmias, which are not responsive to medical therapy, can be treated by electrophysiological study.

Genetic Analysis

A collaboration with the Medical Genetics Service is operational, allowing genetic analysis by Next Generation Sequencing (NGS), which can simultaneously examine 174 genes associated with cardiomyopathy. Patients undergo a genetic visit, in which all the implications of the analysis are explained and the results are discussed with the referring clinical cardiologist. The Medical Genetics Service has many years of experience in the analysis and interpretation of gene variants associated with cardiomyopathies.