ABSTRACT
Right heart failure remains the major cause of death in pulmonary arterial hypertension (PAH) and contributes substantially to morbidity and mortality in nearly all forms of pulmonary hypertension, including that caused by acute pulmonary embolism, left heart failure, and chronic parenchymal lung disease (1-4). Despite this critical role in patient outcomes, the right heart has been little studied until the past decade and, moreover, has no specific targeted therapies (5). A growing body of literature on the molecular mechanisms of right heart failure will undoubtedly bear fruit in the coming years in the form of new therapies and better biomarkers of early failure. This chapter discusses definitions of right heart failure, animal models of right ventricle (RV) dysfunction, and our current molecular understanding of right heart failure.
