Right heart anatomy: A short uptodate

Abstract

Despite of the first description of Sir William Harvey in 1616 looking the significance of right ventricle function for human heart and lungs, its importance was disregarded in clinical practice. Starting with 1950s until the 1970s, cardiovascular surgeons assessed techniques to treat right-heart hypoplasia and as a result they accepted the significance of right heart function. During last decade, the impact of right heart evaluation has been established for the treatment of cardiopulmonary disorders. Knowledge of the right heart anatomy, imaging pathology and related clinical manifestations is essential to prevent neglected features of cardiovascular diseases and false-positive diagnoses. Understanding image features of the human heart acquired by histological studies, echocardiography, computed tomography (CT), micro- CT studies, or diffusion tensor magnetic resonance imaging (DT-MRI) has a very important role in the correctness of anatomically outlining of the cardiac features, especially those associated to the conduction system. Studying classic anatomy of the heart on cadaveric samplings is a requirement to know what imaging investigations brings for the study of RV anatomy and physiology. Considering that, it has to be underlined important anatomical features of the human right heart.