In this perspective, the International Right Heart Foundation Working Group moves a step forward to develop a common language to describe the development and defects that exemplify the common syndrome of right heart failure. We first propose fundamental definitions of the distinctive components of the right heart circulation and provide consensus on a universal definition of right heart failure. These definitions will form the foundation for describing a uniform nomenclature for right heart circulatory failure with a view to foster collaborative research initiatives and conjoint education in an effort to provide insight into echanisms of disease unique to the right heart.
Keywords: anatomy; classification; etiology; physiology; pulmonary circulation; pulmonary hypertension; right heart failure; right ventricle.
© 2014 Published by International Society for the Heart and Lung Transplantation on behalf of International Society for Heart and Lung Transplantation.