Three-dimensional speckle-tracking echocardiography detects different patterns of right atrial dysfunction in selected disorders: a short summary from the MAGYAR-Path Study

The right atrium (RA) is the most under-evaluated heart chamber in the clinical practice (1). Its role is to transit deoxygenated blood from the caval veins and coronary sinus to the right ventricle (RV) via the tricuspid valve, but it has effects on heart rhythm development and conductance, and endocrine and baroreceptor regulations as well (2). Similarly, to the left atrium (LA), the RA has a triple function during the cardiac cycle (2,3): (I) it acts as a “reservoir” storing blood arriving from the systemic venous circulation following closure of the tricuspid valve; (II) it acts as a “conduit” with passive filling from the caval veins to the RV after opening of the tricuspid valve; (III) it acts as a “booster pump” contributing to RV filling by atrial contraction in late diastole