Ablation or surgery for medically refractory HCM. Updating an imperfect dataset.

Retrospective comparison of alcohol septal ablation with surgical myectomy suggests that although there is a greater reduction in LVOT gradient with surgical myectomy, symptom relief and survival are similar between the two treatment strategies. In patients who don't have an anatomic indication for surgical myectomy, alcohol septal ablation appears to be a safe and effective alternative. Patients with medication-refractory HOCM require a multi-disciplinary assessment, which is best performed at specialized treatment centers, to assess which therapy is best suited to treat them.