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Evaluation of Right Ventricular Function in Experimental Models of Pulmonary Arterial Hypertension
Published on: June 27, 2025
Right ventricular involvement in hypertrophic cardiomyopathy
Martin S Maron1, Thomas H Hauser, Ethan Dubrow
1Hypertrophic Cardiomyopathy Center, Division of Cardiology, Tufts-New England Medical Center, Boston, MA, USA. mmaron@tufts-nemc.org
The American Journal of Cardiology
|October 9, 2007
Summary
Cardiovascular magnetic resonance (CMR) reveals that many patients with hypertrophic cardiomyopathy (HC) have right ventricular (RV) abnormalities, including increased wall thickness and mass, challenging the view of HC as solely left ventricular disease.
Area of Science:
- Cardiology
- Cardiovascular Imaging
- Genetics
Background:
- Hypertrophic cardiomyopathy (HC) is primarily characterized by left ventricular hypertrophy.
- The presence and extent of right ventricular (RV) structural abnormalities in HC are not well understood.
- Cardiovascular magnetic resonance (CMR) offers high-resolution imaging of both ventricles.
Purpose of the Study:
- To investigate the presence of morphologic right ventricular (RV) abnormalities in patients with hypertrophic cardiomyopathy (HC) using cardiovascular magnetic resonance (CMR).
- To compare RV morphology between patients with HC and healthy controls.
Main Methods:
- CMR imaging was performed on 46 patients with HC and 22 healthy controls.
- Assessment included ventricular mass, wall thickness, chamber volumes, ejection fraction, and fibrosis for both RV and left ventricle.
- Exclusion criteria included pulmonary hypertension.
Main Results:
- Patients with HC showed significantly increased maximum RV wall thickness (7 ± 2 mm vs. 5 ± 1 mm, p < 0.001) and RV wall mass index (28 ± 9 g vs. 22 ± 4 g, p < 0.001) compared to controls.
- A substantial proportion of HC patients (33%) had RV wall thickness ≥ 8 mm, and 9% had extreme hypertrophy (≥ 10 mm).
- Significant correlations were observed between RV and left ventricular wall thickness and mass in HC patients.
Conclusions:
- Morphologic right ventricular (RV) abnormalities are present in a significant number of patients with hypertrophic cardiomyopathy (HC).
- These findings suggest that HC may involve more widespread cardiac structural changes than previously recognized.
- RV hypertrophy in HC is often a diffuse process and correlates with left ventricular changes.
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