Alcohol Septal Ablation

Prin intermediul unui cateter introdus în artera coronară care hrănește zona îngroșată a septului, se injectează o cantitate mică de alcool medical pur. Acesta produce un „mini-infarct" controlat — zona tratată se subțiază treptat în săptămânile următoare, eliberând calea de ieșire a sângelui din inimă și reducând gradientul obstructiv.

• Hypertrophic obstructive cardiomyopathy (HOCM) is a condition where part of the heart muscle — the septum — becomes abnormally thick
• This thickened muscle partially blocks the outflow of blood from the heart, creating a pressure gradient (obstruction) that forces the heart to work harder
• Alcohol septal ablation is a catheter-based procedure that reduces this obstruction by injecting a small amount of medical-grade alcohol into the artery feeding the overgrown muscle segment
• The alcohol causes a controlled, localized thinning of the thickened area, widening the outflow path and reducing the obstruction

• A catheter is guided to the coronary artery that supplies blood to the thickened septal muscle
• A small balloon is inflated to temporarily block that artery, isolating the target area
• A precise amount of alcohol is injected through the catheter, causing the overgrown muscle cells in that segment to shrink over time
• The pressure gradient across the outflow tract drops, allowing blood to leave the heart more freely
• Heart rhythm is continuously monitored throughout and after the procedure, because the electrical pathways run close to the treatment area (risk of AV block)