Hypertrophic cardiomyopathy in a common wombat (Vombatus ursinus).

A case of hypertrophic cardiomyopathy (HCM) in a common wombat (Vombatus ursinus) is described. At necropsy, the heart showed symmetrical ventricular hypertrophy, a narrow left ventricular cavity, and dilatation of the left atrium. Microscopical findings in the ventricular myocardium included a strikingly disordered arrangement of cardiac muscle cells, in which adjacent cells were aligned perpendicularly and obliquely to each other, interstitial myocardial fibrosis, and arteriosclerosis of small intramural coronary arteries (fibromuscular hyperplasia). The changes, which were widespread in both ventricles, resembled those of HCM in man and other animals.