Eugene Braunwald, MD and the early years of hypertrophic cardiomyopathy: A conversation with Dr. Barry J. Maron

摘要

There is some uncertainty, and even controversy, as to when hypertrophic cardiomyopathy was first recognized. Dating back to 1868, there are autopsy-based case reports from France, Germany, and the United Kingdom composed of 1 or a few patients who appear to have died suddenly of a disease consistent in its features with hypertrophic cardio-myopathy. The 1959 and 1960 reports from London of Brock (clinical) and Teare (pathologic) are generally regarded as the first contemporary descriptions of hypertrophic cardiomyopathy. However, it is appropriate at this time to reflect on how and why this important disease was transformed from the subject of a few anecdotal case reports into a robust and treatable clinical entity ultimately regarded as a common genetic heart disease and the most frequent cause of sudden death in young individuals (including trained athletes).