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Updated: Oct 8, 2025
Morphological and Functional Assessment of the Right Ventricle Using 3D Echocardiography
Published on: October 28, 2020
Complexity of changes in right ventricular morphology and function in patients undergoing cardiac surgery - 3D
Paulina Wejner-Mik1, Jarosław D Kasprzak2, Ewa Szymczyk2
11st Department and Chair of Cardiology, Medical University of Lodz, Bieganski Hospital, Łódź, Poland. mik@ptkardio.pl.
Background:
An impairment of standard echocardiographic parameters of right ventricular (RV) function is a known phenomenon in patients undergoing cardiac surgery, but its significance remains unclear.
Aims:
This study aimed to assess changes in RV function in patients undergoing cardiac surgery using speckle tracking and 3D echocardiography.
Methods:
The study population comprised 122 patients referred for cardiac surgery. Transthoracic echocardiographic (TTE) examinations were performed: before the surgery (TTE1), 1 week after surgery (TTE2), and 1 year after surgery (TTE 3). Parameters measured during these examinations included both standard and advanced indices of the RV size and function, as well as a new parameter introduced by our team - RV shortening fraction (RV SF).
Results:
TTE1 was performed on average (standard deviation [SD]) 24 (15) hours before surgery, whereas TTE2 and TTE3 were performed on average 7.2 (3) days and 346 (75) days after the surgery, respectively. A postoperative impairment of parameters of RV longitudinal function was observed (P <0.001). However, neither the RV size assessed by both 2D and 3D techniques changed, nor the global RV function measured with the use of fractional area change and ejection fraction. Additionally, during the postoperative period, an increase in the value of an RV SF by 12.9% was observed. After 12 months we observed an improvement in the parameters of the longitudinal RV function.
Conclusions:
Uncomplicated cardiac surgery causes transient impairment of the longitudinal systolic RV function, with no influence on the global RV function. The preservation of global function results from increased RV SF. After 12 months, an improvement of the longitudinal function can be observed.
