Thirty years ago, the right ventricle (RV) was considered to be little more than a conduit for blood flow between the peripheral venous circulation and the pulmonary arterial tree. The physiologic role of the RV systole has been revisited, especially because of the observations of acute cor pulmonale and RV infarction where the RV failure may be responsible for a circulatory shock (Laver et al. 1979).