Tran T, Muralidhar A, Hunter K, et al. - Given that limitations in functional capacity and frequently, right ventricular (RV) dysfunction, are observed in patients with continuous-flow (CF) left ventricular assist devices (LVAD), researchers focused on characterizing RV function in the context of global cardiopulmonary performance during exercise in this group. This study involved 26 CF-LVAD patients (58±11 years, 23 males). These patients finished hemodynamic evaluation with either conductance catheters (“Group 1”, N = 13) inserted into the RV to produce RV pressure-volume loops, or traditional Swan-Ganz catheters (“Group 2”, N = 13), during invasive cardiopulmonary exercise testing. Findings revealed that limited RV contractile reserve, marked increases in pulmonary, left- and right-sided filling pressures during exercise, and severe ventilatory inefficiency were detected in CF-LVAD patients. In this group of patients, mechanisms for persistent declines in functional capacity are explained by these data.