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(Circulation. 2008;117:1436-1448.)
© 2008 American Heart Association, Inc.

Contemporary Reviews in Cardiovascular Medicine

Right Ventricular Function in Cardiovascular Disease, Part I

Anatomy, Physiology, Aging, and Functional Assessment of the Right Ventricle

François Haddad, MD; Sharon A. Hunt, MD; David N. Rosenthal, MD; Daniel J. Murphy, MD

From the Division of Cardiovascular Medicine (F.H., S.A.H.) and Department of Pediatrics (D.N.R., D.J.M.), Stanford University, Palo Alto, Calif.

Correspondence to François Haddad, MD, Division of Cardiovascular Medicine, Stanford University, 770 Welch Rd, Suite 400, Palo Alto, CA 94304-5715. E-mail fhaddad@cvmed.stanford.edu

Key Words: imaging • heart failure • ventricles • aging • contractility • echocardiography • physiology

An extract of the first 250 words of the full text is provided, because this article has no abstract.

	Introduction

 
In 1616, Sir William Harvey was the first to describe the importance of right ventricular (RV) function in his seminal treatise, De Motu Cordis: "Thus the right ventricle may be said to be made for the sake of transmitting blood through the lungs, not for nourishing them."^1,2 For many years that followed, emphasis in cardiology was placed on left ventricular (LV) physiology, overshadowing the study of the RV. In the first half of the 20th century, the study of RV function was limited to a small group of investigators who were intrigued by the hypothesis that human circulation could function adequately without RV contractile function.³ Their studies, however, were based on an open pericardial dog model, which failed to take into account the complex nature of ventricular interaction. In the early 1950s through the 1970s, cardiac surgeons recognized the importance of right-sided function as they evaluated procedures to palliate right-heart hypoplasia. Since then, the importance of RV function has been recognized in heart failure, RV myocardial infarction, congenital heart disease and pulmonary hypertension. More recently, advances in echocardiography and magnetic resonance imaging have created new opportunities for the study of RV anatomy and physiology.

The goal of the present review is to offer a clinical perspective on RV structure and function. In the first part, we discuss the anatomy, physiology, aging, and assessment of the RV. In the second part, we discuss the pathophysiology, clinical importance, and management of RV failure.

	Anatomy of the RV

 
Macroscopic Anatomy of the RV
In the normal heart, the RV is the . . . [Full Text of this Article]

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