Ventricle (heart)

A ventricle is one of two large chambers at the bottom of the heart. These chambers collect and push out blood to the rest of the body and the lungs. The blood that fills a ventricle comes from an atrium, a smaller chamber above it.

In humans and many other animals, there are two ventricles that work together in a system called double circulation. The right ventricle sends blood to the lungs through the pulmonary circulation, while the left ventricle pushes blood out to the whole body through the systemic circulation and the aorta. This helps make sure that blood gets to where it’s needed to keep the body working properly.

Structure

Heart section showing ventricles and ventricular septum

Ventricles have thicker walls than atria and can create higher blood pressures. They work harder than atria because they need to push blood all around the body and to the lungs. The left ventricle has even thicker walls than the right ventricle because it must send blood to most of the body, while the right ventricle only sends blood to the lungs.

Inside the ventricles are special muscular columns called trabeculae carneae. One type of these muscles, the papillary muscles, helps hold open important heart valves, such as the tricuspid valve and the mitral valve.

Function

The heart has two large lower chambers called ventricles that pump blood. During systole, the ventricles squeeze and push blood out into the body and lungs. During diastole, they relax and fill up with more blood.

The left ventricle gets oxygen-rich blood from the left atrium and sends it out through the aorta to the rest of the body. The right ventricle gets oxygen-poor blood from the right atrium and sends it to the lungs. Both ventricles work hard to push blood out and then quickly relax to fill up again.

Ventricular pressure is a measure of blood pressure inside the heart’s ventricles.

Dimension	Abbreviation	Definition	Normally
End-diastolic dimension	EDD	The diameter across a ventricle at the end of diastole, if not else specified then usually referring to the transverse (left-to-right) internal (luminal) distance, excluding thickness of walls, although it can also be measured as the external distance.
Left ventricular end-diastolic dimension	LVEDD or sometimes LVDD	The end-diastolic dimension of the left ventricle.	48 mm, Range 36 – 56 mm
Right ventricular end-diastolic dimension	RVEDD or sometimes RVDD	The end-diastolic dimension of the right ventricle.	Range 10 – 26 mm
End-systolic dimension	ESD	ESD is similar to the end-diastolic dimension, but is measured at the end of systole (after the ventricles have pumped out blood) rather than at the end of diastole.
Left ventricular end-systolic dimension	LVESD or sometimes LVSD	The end-systolic dimension of the left ventricle.	Range 20 – 40 mm
Right ventricular end-systolic dimension	RVESD or sometimes RVSD	The end-systolic dimension of the right ventricle.	Range 10 – 26 mm
Interventricular septal end diastolic dimension	IVSd	The thickness of the interventricular septum.	8.3 mm, Range 7 – 11 mm
Left ventricular end diastolic posterior wall dimension	LVPWd	The thickness of the posterior left ventricular wall.	8.3 mm, Range 7 – 11 mm
Mean left ventricular myocardial thickness	Mean LVMT	Average thickness of the left ventricle, with numbers given as 95% prediction interval for the short axis images at the mid-cavity level	Women: 4 - 8 mm Men: 5 - 9 mm
Mean right ventricular myocardial thickness	Mean RVMT	Average thickness of the right ventricle, with numbers given as 95% prediction interval.	4 - 7 mm
Left ventricular end systolic dimension		As above but measured during systole. This measurement is not commonly used clinically.	16 mm
Left atrial dimension	LA		Range 24 – 40 mm

Structure

Function

Images

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