Details.
A minimally invasive, percutaneous treatment for a select group of patients with hypertrophic obstructive cardiomyopathy and refractory or persistent symptoms. The procedure involves slowly injecting 98 percent alcohol through a catheter into a carefully selected artery supplying the overgrown tissue in the enlarged septum. It does not require general anesthesia or open-heart surgery. Patients are monitored in the ICU for two days with a temporary pacemaker, followed by limited physical activity for two to four weeks and follow-up echocardiograms in three to six months.