Right ventricle

Function

The right ventricle is a crescent-shaped pump wrapped around the left ventricle's cone. It ejects the same 70 ml stroke volume as its partner, but into the low-resistance pulmonary circuit at just 25/4 mmHg — which is why its wall is a third as thick.

Its interior is corrugated with trabeculae carneae and anchored by the papillary muscles whose chordae tendineae hold the tricuspid valve shut during systole. The moderator band (septomarginal trabecula) carries the right bundle branch across the cavity, delivering the electrical wave to the anterior papillary muscle in a fraction of a heartbeat.

Blood supply

Right coronary artery.

Nerve supply

Autonomic cardiac plexus; Purkinje fibres of the right bundle branch.

Clinical relevance

Right heart failure

Pressure overload from lung disease (cor pulmonale) or tricuspid regurgitation congests the systemic veins — raised JVP, hepatic enlargement and ankle oedema.

Pulmonary embolism

Sudden clots in the pulmonary artery strain this thin-walled pump; acute right-ventricular dilatation on echo or CT, with raised troponin, marks high-risk PE.

Related conditions

• Heart failure
• Pulmonary hypertension
• Pulmonary embolism