Vol 14, No 5 (2019)
Review paper
Published online: 2019-10-31
Arrhythmias and autonomic nervous system dysfunction in acute and chronic diseases with right ventricle involvement
Folia Cardiologica 2019;14(5):456-466.
Abstract
The right and left hearts differ from one another in their anatomy and function. This disparity demonstrates itself in different heart muscle compositions, arrangements of cardiac conduction system elements, and distributions of autonomic nervous system receptors. These differences mean that diseases that mainly affect the right heart, such as acute pulmonary embolism, chronic pulmonary hypertension, right ventricular infarction or arrhythmogenic right ventricular cardiomyopathy, as well as some congenital heart diseases and connective tissue diseases, have a distinct clinical course and potential complications. This leads to an increased incidence of cardiac rhythm disturbances in this group, with some types of arrhythmia for every disease. In order to help clinicians select the best diagnostic and therapeutic methods, we here summarise current knowledge about arrhythmic complications and cardiac autonomic nervous system functions in diseases with right heart involvement.
Keywords: arrhythmiascardiac autonomic nervous systemacute pulmonary embolismpulmonary hypertensionright ventricular involvement