Right ventricular function in mitral stenosis: plays a fundamental role

The importance of the right ventricle (RV) was neglected or forgotten for decades. The RV has an essential function in cardiovascular physiology and pathology. The RV dysfunction is one of the causes of morbidity and mortality in valvular heart disease (VHD), especially in mitral stenosis (MS). Right ventricular systolic and diastolic function are important for the determination of clinical symptoms, exercise functional capacity, pre-procedure survival, and post-procedure outcome in patients with MS. Right ventricular dysfunction in MS with a sign of systemic venous congestion is easy to recognize, but MS without clinical evidence of RV dysfunction has not been studied. Detecting RV dysfunction earlier in MS is important in clinical practice.