The Echocardiographic Assessment of Right Ventricular Function and Dimensions

The importance of the RV and its function as a predictor of prognosis across a range of cardiac conditions has become more accepted over time, especially for the fact that the RV may play (or become to have) a crucial role in multiple congenital heart defects before and after surgical and/or cather-based interventions; this is even more true if the RV is (or switched to be) the “systemic ventricle” in specific cardiac conditions and malformations (“univentricular pathway”). Therefore, assessment of RV function and dimensions should be part of the routine cardiac assessment by ECHO. Due to many challenges in quantifying RV function, the qualitative method for RV assessment is commonly used. This chapter will highlight the commonly used techniques, which can be applied routinely in the ECHO lab and may help to describe and analyze RV function more properly.