A collaborative research involving investigators from University College London (UCL,London,UK;www.ucl.ac.uk) has revealed that a combination of two types of heart scan techniques could enable medical professional to detect hypertrophic cardiomyopathy (HCM) earlier than current conventional tests allow.

The team employed two advanced heart scanning techniques: cardiac diffusion tensor imaging(cDTI), a type of MRI scan that reveals how individual heart muscle cells are organized and packed together (the heart’s microstructure),and cardiac MRI perfusion (perfusion CMR), which identifies problems with small blood vessels supplying the heart muscle (microvascular disease).

The early detection of HCM could also support trials exploring gene therapies and medications aimed at preventing the disease’s development in high-risk individuals.