Adult Echocardiography Practice Exam

Right ventricular hypertrophy (RVH) can be primarily attributed to increased workload on the right ventricle, which commonly occurs in the setting of pulmonary hypertension. In pulmonary hypertension, the pressure in the pulmonary arteries is elevated, causing the right ventricle to work harder to pump blood into the lungs. Over time, this increased afterload leads to structural changes in the heart muscle, such as hypertrophy, especially in the right ventricle, as it adapts to the increased demands placed upon it.

Mitral stenosis typically leads to left atrial enlargement and can cause secondary effects on the right side of the heart, but it does not directly cause right ventricular hypertrophy. Aortic regurgitation affects the left side of the heart predominantly and can lead to left ventricular dilation and hypertrophy rather than right ventricular changes. Similarly, left ventricular systolic dysfunction primarily impacts the left ventricle and can produce changes in the left-sided heart pressures that may eventually affect the right ventricle indirectly, but the most direct cause of right ventricular hypertrophy remains pulmonary hypertension.

Thus, the correct association with right ventricular hypertrophy on echocardiography is indeed pulmonary hypertension, which is why this condition is accurately identified in the context of this question