الفهرس 
IntroductionOnly 14 pages are availabe for public view
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Abstract
Introduction: Knowledge about the role of the right ventricle in health and disease historically has lagged behind that of the left ventricle. Less muscular, restricted in its role to pumping blood through a single organ, and less frequently or obviously involved than the left ventricle in diseases of epidemic proportions such as myocardial ischemia, cardiomyopathy, or valvulopathy, the right ventricle has generally been considered a mere bystander, a victim of pathological processes affecting the cardiovascular system. The right ventricle is a pivotal chamber and its dysfunction is clinically important in the diagnosis of many diseases as it gives interesting insights into prognosis, functional capacity and therapeutic management. The right ventricle is affected by and contributes to a number of disease processes, including perhaps most notably pulmonary hypertension caused by a variety of lung or pulmonary vascular diseases. Other diseases affect the right ventricle in different ways; including cardiomyopathy, right ventricular infarction, valvular heart disease, and congenital heart diseases. A proper understanding of RV physiology requires knowledge of ventricular contractility, preload, and afterload, as well as ventricular interdependence and pericardial constraint. However, due to both its shape and location and to the load dependence of its ejection fraction, accurate evaluation of its function is still a challenge. Echocardiography allows morphological, hemodynamic and functional assessment of the right heart, beside its new and promising noninvasive indices of contractility as tissue Doppler IVA and RV myocardial performance index. Displacement and deformation parameters derived from new techniques like TDI and strain imaging are promising tools. 3D echocardiography also has a potential interest in the quantification of RV volumes and ejection fraction. Radionuclide technique allows an easy and accurate measurement of RVEF. MRI remains nowadays the technique of choice for the quantification of volumes and function of the RV and tissue characterization. All these techniques have proven their interest in various diseases affecting the right ventricle. RV function is an important prognostic factor in heart failure and is a major component of functional capacity in such patients. In pulmonary arterial hypertension, echocardiography is the best tool for the routine follow-up of patients. Finally, all these non-invasive techniques of investigation of the right heart enable the diagnosis of specific right ventricular damage such as myocardial infarction or arrhythmogenic right ventricular dysplasia. Aim of work: To Review the Normal Hemodynamics and function of the Right Ventricle. To Summarize the different methods of assessment of the Right Ventricular functions and their statistical value. To discuss the abnormalities of Right Ventricular functions in different Cardiovascular diseases. Conclusions: The use of all these new techniques could lead to the discovery of new noninvasive indices of contractility and chamber compliance, better understanding of ventricular remodeling, pathophysiological role of the RV in various disease states and its impact on management.