Fetal right ventricular enlargement

Last revised by Daniel J Bell on 1 Aug 2019

Citation, DOI, disclosures and article data

Citation:

Weerakkody Y, Bell D, Carroll D, et al. Fetal right ventricular enlargement. Reference article, Radiopaedia.org (Accessed on 19 Apr 2024) https://doi.org/10.53347/rID-15720

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.53347/rID-15720

Permalink:

https://radiopaedia.org/articles/15720

rID:

15720

Article created:

3 Nov 2011, Yuranga Weerakkody ◉

Disclosures:

At the time the article was created Yuranga Weerakkody had no recorded disclosures.

View Yuranga Weerakkody's current disclosures

Last revised:

1 Aug 2019, Daniel J Bell ◉

Disclosures:

At the time the article was last revised Daniel J Bell had no recorded disclosures.

View Daniel J Bell's current disclosures

Revisions:

5 times, by 5 contributors - see full revision history and disclosures

Systems:

Cardiac, Obstetrics

Tags:

cases

Synonyms:

In utero right ventricular enlargement
Prenatal right ventricular enlargement
Antenatal right ventricular enlargement
Right ventricular enlargement in utero
Fetal RV enlargement
Fetal RV dilatation
Fetal right ventricular dilatation

Fetal right ventricular (RV) enlargement is an infrequently encountered situation in antenatal imaging.

Pathology

The right ventricle is the dominant ventricle during in utero development. Right ventricular enlargement can occur with a number of cardiac as well as non-cardiac anomalies.

cardiac
- hypoplastic left heart syndrome
- interrupted aortic arch
- aortic coarctation
- ventricular septal defect ¹
- congenital pulmonary stenosis: tends to cause more wall hypertrophy rather than chamber dilatation
- dilated fetal cardiomyopathy
- more unusual cardiac etiologies may include :
  - Uhl anomaly
  - arrhythmogenic right ventricular cardiomyopathy (ARVC) ⁴
extracardiac
- intrauterine growth restriction ³

Radiographic assessment

Antenatal ultrasound - fetal echocardiography

The ventricular dimensions can be easily assessed on a standard four chamber view. In the normal situation both right and left ventricles should be roughly equal in size. The right ventricle is usually the most anterior of all the chambers in a four chamber view.