The main feature of hypertrophic cardiomyopathy is an excessive thickening of the heart muscle (hypertrophy literally means to thicken). Heart muscle may thicken in normal individuals as a result of high blood pressure or porlonged athletic training. In hypertrophic cardiomyopathy, however, the muscle thickening occurs without an obvious cause and is often an inherited condition. The incidence of hypertrophic cardiomyopathy in the general population is 1 in every 500 people. HCM is the leading cause of sudden cardiac death in the young. This talk will focus on the nature of the disorder and the emerging research and array of treatments Stanford doctors use to treat it. From the Series:The Stanford University Medical Center Health Hour