Right ventricular function and failure: report of a National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute working group on cellular and molecular mechanisms of right heart failure

NF Voelkel, RA Quaife, LA Leinwand, RJ Barst… - Circulation, 2006 - Am Heart Assoc
NF Voelkel, RA Quaife, LA Leinwand, RJ Barst, MD McGoon, DR Meldrum, J Dupuis
Circulation, 2006Am Heart Assoc
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. Consequently, comparatively little attention …
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. Consequently, comparatively little attention has been devoted to how right ventricular dysfunction may be best detected and measured, what specific molecular and cellular mechanisms contribute to maintenance or failure of normal right ventricular function, how right ventricular dysfunction evolves structurally and functionally, or what interventions might best preserve right ventricular function. Nevertheless, even the proportionately limited information related to right ventricular function, its impairment in various disease states, and its impact on the outcome of those diseases suggests that the right ventricle is an important contributor and that further understanding of these issues is of pivotal importance. For this reason, the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute convened a working group charged with delineating in broad terms the current base of scientific and medical understanding about the right ventricle and identifying avenues of investigation likely to meaningfully advance knowledge in a clinically useful direction. The following summary represents the presentations and discussions of this working group.
Am Heart Assoc