Patients with univentricular hearts have high mortality despite substantial advances in surgical techniques and other treatment modalities.
In particular, patients with a single right ventricle (SRV) have a worse prognosis than patients with a single left ventricle (SLV).
The blood flow patterns with SRV and SLV are unknown.
They analyzed the intraventricular vortex in patients with univentricular hearts using vector flow mapping software to compare the energetic efficiency (intraventricular energy loss, kinetic energy of outflow, mean vorticity during diastole) of SRV to that of SLV.
The result that a diastolic vortex was observed in both SRV and SLV patients. However, the kinetic energy and vorticity were lower in the SRV compared with the SLV.

Koichi Akiyama, MD, PhD Keiichi Itatani, MD, PhD Isaac Y Wu, MD Yosuke Tachibana, MD Yurie Obata, MD Yasufumi Nakajima, MD, PhD Masaaki Yamagishi, MD, PhD Hiroo Takayama, MD, PhD Teiji Sawa, MD, PhD, "Difference in Intraventricular Vortex Between the Single Right Ventricle and Single Left Ventricle", Journal of Cardiothoracic and Vascular Anesthesia , 35 (2021) https://doi.org/10.1053/j.jvca.2020.11.008.