5 months post septal ablation and ECHO bad again

Posted by jillellen @jillellen, Oct 11 9:56am

Writing for my sister who has chronic hypertension was dx with HOCM at age 74 @feb 2026 and had septal ablation at Mayo in May. Post ablation echo in June showed major improvement. But, developed occasional dizziness and bp continued to fluctuate. Had endarcterectomy on 10/2 to unblock carotid. A few days later, rehospitalized to r/o stroke. Repeat echo shows severe left ventricular hypertrophy and obstruction peak gradient 102.
She is extremely discouraged. Has anyone else had septal ablation fail so quickly?

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Linda, Volunteer Mentor | @walkinggirl | 6 days ago

@jillellen Welcome to Mayo Clinic Connect! I see you are writing to help your sister, and you are wondering about her septal ablation failing so quickly. I cannot answer your question but do hope others can share their experiences.

I am sorry to read that the procedure did not work for her and that she is very discouraged. She expected the septal ablation to be the "fix" and so did her doctor. My experience is that septal ablation was not recommended for me, and I had a septal myectomy at Mayo at age almost-76 in 2023, absolutely no regrets. What do her doctors suggest for her next step?