Right Ventricular Infarction Differential Diagnoses

  • Author: Claudia Dima, MD; Chief Editor: Eric H Yang, MD   more...
 
Updated: Mar 29, 2011
 
 

Diagnostic Considerations

Although right ventricular infarction occurs in more than 30% of patients with inferior posterior left ventricular myocardial infarction, hemodynamically significant right ventricular infarction occurs in less than 10% of these patients.[3, 18, 19]

A right ventricular infarct should be considered in all patients who present with an acute inferior wall myocardial infarction, especially in the setting of a low cardiac output.

Should a patient with right ventricular infarction experience unexplained hypoxia despite administration of 100% oxygen, right-to-left shunting at the atrial level in the presence of right ventricular failure and increased right atrial pressure must be considered.[22, 23]

Differential Diagnoses

Proceed to Workup
 
 
Contributor Information and Disclosures
Author

Claudia Dima, MD  Fellow in Interventional Cardiology, Department of Cardiology, Banner Good Samaritan Medical Center

Disclosure: Nothing to disclose.

Coauthor(s)

David L Coven, MD, PhD  Assistant Professor of Medicine, Columbia University College of Physicians and Surgeons; Attending Physician in Interventional Cardiology, St Luke's-Roosevelt Hospital Center

David L Coven, MD, PhD is a member of the following medical societies: American College of Physicians, American Medical Association, and Massachusetts Medical Society

Disclosure: Nothing to disclose.

Kenneth B Desser, MD  Clinical Professor, Director of Cardiology Fellowship, Banner Good Samaritan Medical Center, Phoenix, Arizona

Disclosure: Nothing to disclose.

Ashish Pershad, MD  Consulting Staff, Heart and Vascular Center of Arizona

Ashish Pershad, MD is a member of the following medical societies: American College of Cardiology

Disclosure: Nothing to disclose.

Specialty Editor Board

George A Stouffer III, MD  Henry A Foscue Distinguished Professor of Medicine and Cardiology, Director of Interventional Cardiology, Cardiac Catheterization Laboratory, Chief of Clinical Cardiology, Division of Cardiology, University of North Carolina Medical Center

George A Stouffer III, MD is a member of the following medical societies: Alpha Omega Alpha, American College of Cardiology, American College of Physicians, American Heart Association, Phi Beta Kappa, and Society for Cardiac Angiography and Interventions

Disclosure: Nothing to disclose.

Francisco Talavera, PharmD, PhD  Adjunct Assistant Professor, University of Nebraska Medical Center College of Pharmacy; Editor-in-Chief, Medscape Drug Reference

Disclosure: Medscape Salary Employment

Chief Editor

Eric H Yang, MD  Associate Professor of Medicine, Director of Interventional Cardiology Fellowship Program, Henry Ford Hospital

Eric H Yang, MD is a member of the following medical societies: Alpha Omega Alpha

Disclosure: Nothing to disclose.

Additional Contributors

The authors and editors of eMedicine gratefully acknowledge the contributions of previous author Rex C Liu, MD, to the development and writing of the source article.

References

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Table. Sensitivity and Specificity of More Than 1 mm of ST-Segment Elevation in V1, V3 R, and V4 R
Leads Sensitivity (%) Specificity (%)
V12892
V3 R6997
V4 R9395
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