right ventricle (anatomy)

Last reviewed 01/2018

The right ventricle is the chamber of the heart that receives blood from the right atrium through the tricuspid valve and passes it to the pulmonary trunk through the infundibulum and pulmonary valve. It constitutes a large part of the sternocostal surface of the heart.

The wall of the right ventricle is thicker than the right atrium, typically 2-5mm. However, this range is only one third that of the left ventricle.

The shape of the chamber is much akin to an open 'V' with wide separation of the tricuspid and pulmonary valves. It has septal, anterior and posterior - actually inferior - walls and inflow and outlow tracts. The inflow tract commences near to the apex inferiorly and the outflow tract forms sharply at an angle to this to the left and superiorly. Both tracts vary in their surface characteristics and embryological origin. The points of demarcation between the two regions within the chamber are the supraventricular crest and the septomarginal trabecula.