Right ventricular infarction (RVI) was initially described approximately 70 years ago. However, it was not until 1974 when Cohn et al1 published the results of their landmark study and described the clinical and hemodynamic features of RVI that this abnormality was recognized as a distinct clinical entity. Cohn et al reported that the delay in recognizing RVI was due to the notion that the right ventricle was not a necessary component of the circulation. This idea was fueled by experiments in dogs that showed that when the right ventricle was excluded, no change in venous pressure or cardiac output occurred.2–,4 Successful surgical procedures that bypassed the right ventricle were being used at the time to treat cyanotic congenital heart disease, further supporting the “lack of importance” of the right ventricle.2,5 After the publication of Cohn et al in 1974, a new era of investigation...

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