Septal myectomy
If you have been diagnosed with left ventricular outflow tract obstruction, you will have been discussed at a multidisciplinary team meeting to decide on the best form of treatment. This will depend on the size and effects of the narrowing out of the heart.
Options include:
- medical treatment with monitoring
- catheter alcohol ablation (a needle in the groin to dissolve the problem tissue using wires guided up to the heart)
- open surgery
Complex 3D printouts of the heart are made to help decide what the most appropriate form of treatment is and how to best approach this.
Open surgery involves median sternotomy and cardiopulmonary bypass to access the inside of the left ventricle. This is done usually through the same incision as would be used to replace an aortic valve - a cut in the aorta called an aortotomy. The aortic valve is then pushed to one side to allow the muscle in the heart that has overgrown to be reached and cut away.