Transposition Of The Great Arteries

Transposition of the Great Arteries




Transposition of the great arteries (TGA), also called transposition of the great vessels, is a serious heart defect that is present at birth. In thiscondition, the position of the two main blood vessels that carry blood away from the heart, the aorta and pulmonary artery, are switched. It is estimated that transposition of the great arteries occursin 1 in 3,500-5,000 births, with boys affected more often than girls. It is not known what causes TGA.

In a normal heart, blood from the body comes into the heart and goes from the heart to thelungs through the pulmonary artery to get oxygen. It comes back to the heart and is pumped out to the body through the aorta. Since the pulmonary artery and aorta are switched in TGA, blood from the bodycomes into the heart but just gets pumped back to the body again without going to the lungs for oxygen.


Transposition of the great arteries often occurs with other heart defects such asventricular septal defect (VSD). In 10% of cases, there are other types of birth defects present in addition to TGA.


Symptoms

The symptoms of transposition of the great arteries are present at birth orshortly after. Symptoms include:
• Cyanosis – In TGA there is too little oxygen in the blood that is pumped out to the body. The baby has a bluish color to his/her skin and has shortness of breath.• Rapid breathing and heart rate
How severe the symptoms are depends upon whether any oxygen can get into the blood that gets pumped out to the body. A ventricular septal defect is a hole in thewall in the middle of the heart. If it is present it can allow some blood that has oxygen in it to get mixed in with the blood going out to the body. In this case the baby would have less cyanosis, oronly have it when he/she was crying or upset.

Diagnosis

Diagnosis of transposition of the great arteries is confirmed by an ultrasound of the heart, called an echocardiogram. If TGA is suspected...