IMR Press / RCM / Volume 22 / Issue 4 / DOI: 10.31083/j.rcm2204131
Open Access Review
Right ventricular myocardial infarction: pathophysiology, clinical implications and management
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1 Department of Cardiology, Liverpool Hospital, 2170 Liverpool, NSW, Australia
2 Faculty of Medicine and Health, University of Sydney, 2006 Sydney, NSW, Australia
3 School of Medicine, Western Sydney University, 2560 Campbelltown, NSW, Australia
4 South Western Clinical School, UNSW, 2170 Liverpool, NSW, Australia
5 Ingham Institute for Applied Medical Research, 2170 Liverpool, NSW, Australia
*Correspondence: femia82@gmail.com (Giuseppe Femia)
Academic Editor: Filippos Triposkiadis
Rev. Cardiovasc. Med. 2021, 22(4), 1229–1240; https://doi.org/10.31083/j.rcm2204131
Submitted: 30 August 2021 | Revised: 11 September 2021 | Accepted: 23 September 2021 | Published: 22 December 2021
(This article belongs to the Special Issue State-of-the-Art Cardiovascular Medicine in Europe 2022)
Copyright: © 2021 The Author(s). Published by IMR Press.
This is an open access article under the CC BY 4.0 license (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/).
Abstract

Right ventricular myocardial infarction (RVMI) and right ventricular (RV) failure are complications from an acute occlusion of a dominant right coronary artery (RCA) or left anterior descending (LAD) artery. Although some patients have good long-term RV recovery, RVMI is associated with high rates of in-hospital morbidity and mortality driven by hemodynamic compromise, cardiogenic shock, and electrical complications. As such, it is important to identify specific clinical signs and symptoms, initiate resuscitation and commence reperfusion therapy with fibrinolytic therapy or percutaneous coronary intervention. This review will discuss RVMI pathophysiology, describe the current diagnostic measures, highlight current therapies, and explore future management options.

Keywords
Acute coronary syndrome
Right ventricular myocardial infarction
Shock
Figures
Fig. 1.
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