Right ventricular function

Abstract

This article describes the importance of the right ventricle in both the normal circulation, and in the abnormal milieu of previously palliated or corrected congenital heart disease. The latter group represents natural models of abnormal right ventricular loading that do not exist in any other experimental arena, and their study has provided insights into chronic adaptation of the right ventricle, in terms of cardiopulmonary haemodynamics, right-left heart interactions and mechano-electric inter-relationships.