ABSTRACT
RV is located anteriorly and immediately behind the sternum. Therefore, echocardiography (both 2D and 3D), which is unable to visualize a fi eld that is too proximal, may not allow visualization of the closer RV portion from the parasternal position. RV has a circumferential arrangement of the myofi bers in the subendocardium and longitudinal myofi bers in the subendocardium (Figure 4.1). RV contraction is greater longitudinally than radially.1,2 It is no wonder that almost all the RV strain and strain rate studies, including 3D methods, are focused on the longitudinal ones, not radial or circumferential ones.3,4
As for the shape of RV, any 2D imaging cannot represent the entire RV as seen in Figures 4.2 and 4.3 In the apical 2D view, the RV looks triangular while in the cross-sectional view, it appears crescent in the normal condition.5 There are three component parts in RV.1,2,6
The infundibular part consists of 25%–30% of RV volume shown by a 3D study.7
