Hypertrophic cardiomyopathy (HCM) is a genetic heart disease. It affects one in every 500 people worldwide and causes the heart muscle to thicken and stiffen, preventing it from working effectively: the heart does not fill properly and pumps less blood.

In young patients, from birth to under 30 years of age, it is a major cause of sudden cardiac death: 8,000 young Europeans are victims each year without warning signs.

Despite advances in genetics, it remains difficult to identify early signs of the disease and predict the risk of major adverse cardiovascular events (stroke, heart failure, heart attack).

The “5D Ultrafast HCM” project aims to improve the detection of sudden death risks in young patients with hypertrophic cardiomyopathy (HCM), a genetic heart disease that affects 1 in 500 people worldwide.

With this funding, Dr. Villemain and his teams aim to develop a new ultra-fast ultrasound system. This exam, which currently takes up to an hour and can be uncomfortable, will be performed in just one second, directly at the patient’s bedside. This new device will create a 3D image of the heart and provide crucial information in an instant, simplifying diagnosis and significantly improving patient care. This five-year project is a collaboration between Bordeaux University Hospital and the Liryc Institute for Research in Cardiovascular Diseases: a major advance for medical research.