Left Ventricular Outflow Device (LVODe) is a medical apparatus implanted to enable normal flow from the left ventricle to the aorta in hypertrophic cardiomyopathy. Hypertrophic cardiomyopathy (HCM) is a congenital disease of the heart with heterogenic genetic phenotypes that result in obstructed flow to the aorta. Echocardiography characterizes HCM as having left ventricular wall thickness greater than 25 mm, asymmetric hypertrophy, left ventricular outflow obstruction, systolic anterior motion of the mitral valve. Patients present with sudden death, perilous arrhythmias, anginal symptoms, and exertional dyspnea. Treatments used for HCM are medical therapy, surgical myectomy and alcohol septal ablation which are not without adverse effects. In addition, the structural variation of HCM makes no one particular treatment the magic bullet.Hence the concept of LVODe: a method to modulate the abnormal dynamic flow obstruction to the aorta. The success of the device will hinge on its clinical trials or outcomes.
