Our manuscript addresses the reliability of cardiac CT as an alternative for cardiac MRI in patients with a systemic right ventricle. Currently, cardiac MRI is considered the gold standard for volumes and function measurements of the systemic right ventricle. However, 20% of patients with a systemic right ventricle is pacemaker dependent, and therefore unsuitable to undergo MRI. To our knowledg...

Anatomy of right ventricle (RV) and some of its function was first described by Harvay W [1]. Since then, for many years until recent decades only a few researchers have tried to specify its prognostic importance in main cardiac diseases as right heart has been traditionally considered to have a little or at most secondary to left ventricle (LV) role in overall cardiac function and development ...

OBJECTIVES Gated radionuclide ventriculography (RNV) may be used for the evaluation of the right ventricular function. However, the accuracy of the method should be clinically validated in patients suffering from diseases with specific pathology of the right ventricle (RV) and with possible left ventricular (LV) interaction. METHODS Three groups of 15 patients each, diagnosed with arrhythmoge...

T he right ventricle has been described as the “forgotten chamber,” and despite better awareness of its importance, current heart failure (HF) guidelines have taken little cognizance of the right ventricle. In part, this reflects the limitations of the evidence regarding the determinants of right ventricular (RV) dysfunction and its relation to outcomes in HF. This special issue of iJACC seeks ...

Right ventricular (RV) size and systolic function have diagnostic and prognostic value in multiple cardiovascular and pulmonary disorders. However, because of its substernal position and crescentic shape, the right ventricle has been difficult to characterize using conventional 2-dimensional echocardiography. Cardiac magnetic resonance (CMR) provides highly reproducible measures of RV volumes a...

Echocardiography plays a major role in assessing cardiac function in animal models. We investigated use of a modified parasternal mid right-ventricular (MRV) and right ventricle (RV) outflow (RVOT) view, in assessing RV size and function, and the suitability of advanced 2D-strain analysis. 15 WKY rats were examined using transthoracic echocardiography. The left heart was assessed using standard...

Pulmonary arterial hypertension (PAH) is a right heart failure syndrome. In early-stage PAH, the right ventricle tends to remain adapted to afterload with increased contractility and little or no increase in right heart chamber dimensions. However, less than optimal right ventricular (RV)-arterial coupling may already cause a decreased aerobic exercise capacity by limiting maximum cardiac outpu...

The importance of right ventricular (RV) function in maintaining global cardiac performance is the focus of this discussion. The physiological determinants of normal right ventricular function will be discussed, with particular emphasis on the afterload and contractility characteristics of the right ventricle. Numerous clinical conditions have been shown to affect RV performance. These conditio...

Background Right ventricular (RV) function has proven to be of importance for patient risk stratification in heart failure and is associated with sudden death and exercise limitation. RV dysfunction might play an important role in diabetic cardiomyopathy. We therefore assessed RV function and volumes using MRI in patients with otherwise uncomplicated type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM), and compare...

Pulmonary arterial hypertension (PAH) is a progressive disease that often results in right ventricular (RV) failure and death. During disease progression, structural and electrical remodeling of the right ventricle impairs pump function, creates proarrhythmic substrates, and triggers for arrhythmias. Notably, RV failure and lethal arrhythmias are major contributors to cardiac death in patients ...