NYU Winthrop Hospital today announced that it has been designated a “Center of Excellence” by the Hypertrophic Cardiomyopathy Association (HCMA), the preeminent patient advocacy association serving individuals with hypertrophic cardiomyopathy (HCM), their families, and those providing care to HCM patients. The HCMA provides support, education, and advocacy, and advances research on the condition, which involves a thickening of the muscles of the heart. HCM is most commonly known as the leading cause of sudden cardiac arrest in athletes. NYU Winthrop Hospital strives to prevent such untimely deaths and improve the lives of those with HCM. The NYU Winthrop HCM Center is 1 of 33 programs in the U.S. with this designation and 1 of only 3 hospitals in New York state to boast that distinction. NYU Winthrop’s affiliate, NYU Langone Health, also holds the HCMA Center of Excellence designation.

“This is an exceptional distinction, having NYU Winthrop Hospital achieve the HCMA Recognized Center of Excellence designation, and it speaks volumes about the full-spectrum diagnostic and therapeutic options we offer patients with HCM,” said Vijayapraveena Paruchuri, MD, director of NYU Winthrop Hospital’s HCM Center and director of the hospital’s Adult Congenital Heart Center. “HCM is a multidisciplinary disease that requires far more than the expertise of one HCM specialist, and NYU Winthrop brings that multidisciplinary expertise to the fore, understanding how to manage complex cases including those of athletes and women with high-risk pregnancies.”

To achieve the Center of Excellence recognition, NYU Winthrop’s HCM program was required to possess a highly experienced subspecialty team able to treat HCM and its many complex variations; provide the highest quality care to a large volume of HCM patients; possess advanced imaging and related technologies; and the Hospital had to display a dedication to research regarding HCM, among other factors in which the Hospital had to excel.

It is the “go to” center for the diagnosis and multidisciplinary longitudinal management of these individuals in the greater Long Island area.

“HCMA Centers of Excellence save lives every day through skilled diagnoses, preventative care and multidisciplinary HCM treatment. The HCMA is extremely pleased to add NYU Winthrop Hospital to our prestigious roster of Centers of Excellence,” said Lisa Salberg, founder and CEO of the HCMA.

Fundamental to achieving the designation of HCMA Recognized Center of Excellence, a medical center, such as NYU Winthrop, must offer a team with subspecialty care experience so that rather than receiving just one physician’s opinion, patients have access to a group of clinicians with extensive exposure in the area of HCM. While on average, a general cardiologist’s practice may see 5 to 10 patients with HCM, a Center of Excellence treats hundreds or thousands, and seeing far more variations of the disease enables a Center of Excellence to better treat HCM patients. The HCM Center at NYU Winthrop not only collaborates closely with pediatric cardiology and general cardiologists, but has the strong support of experts in advanced imaging, electrophysiology and implantable devices, interventional cardiology, cardiac surgery, and genetic testing and counseling.

In addition, Dr. Paruchuri’s HCM Center team works closely the hospital’s Division of Maternal Fetal Medicine, which is renowned for its expertise with high-risk pregnancies including those involving HCM. The disease can cause increased demands on a pregnant woman’s heart, and arrhythmias may also worsen during pregnancy. In addition, NYU Winthrop has a close collaboration with NYU Langone Health’s heart surgery programs, which allows NYU Winthrop to bring transplant services to patients with HCM, when a transplant is indicated.

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Anne Kazel-Wilcox
Phone: 516-663-4999
anne.kazel@nyulangone.org