New insights in the assessment of right ventricular function

The right ventricle is a three dimensional (3D) complex structure of a crescent shaped cavity wrapped around the left ventricle. It consists of three compartments namely, the inflow tract (inlet), the outflow tract (outlet) and apex. There is a contraction time delay between the compartments in order to allow blood to flow through the wide angle between the inlet and outlet. The clinical literature has shown the right ventricle to be a sensitive predictor of exercise tolerance and also a major determinant of clinical symptoms in patients with heart failure. This book gives a clear understanding of the physiology of the right ventricle in three groups of patients 1) Patients with previous heart attack; 2) patients with severe aortic valve narrowing (aortic stenosis) before and six months after valve replacement and 3) patients with raised pulmonary circulation pressure (pulmonary hypertension). We used advanced echocardiography technologies such as 3D, Speckle tracking (analysis of speckle motion of the heart muscle) as well as already used measures to demonstrate right ventricular function in terms of structure and timing changes in each disease condition.