Forgotten No More—The Role of Right Ventricular Dysfunction in Heart Failure with Reduced Ejection Fraction: An Echocardiographic Perspective
A E Vijiiac, Sebastian Onciul, Claudia Guzu, Alina Scărlătescu, Ioana Petre, Diana Zamfir, Roxana Onuţ, Silvia Deaconu, Maria Dorobanţu
Abstract
During the last decade, studies have raised awareness of the crucial role that the right ventricle plays in various clinical settings, including diseases primarily linked to the left ventricle. The assessment of right ventricular performance with conventional echocardiography is challenging. Novel echocardiographic techniques improve the functional assessment of the right ventricle and they show good correlation with the gold standard represented by cardiac magnetic resonance. This review summarizes the traditional and innovative echocardiographic techniques used in the functional assessment of the right ventricle, focusing on the role of right ventricular dysfunction in heart failure with reduced ejection fraction and providing a perspective on recent evidence from literature.