Defects Involving the Great Arteries
The great arteries of the heart are the aorta and the pulmonary artery.
Transposition of the Great Arteries (TGA) implies that the position of the pulmonary artery and the aorta are reversed. Therefore, the pulmonary artery is attached to the left ventricle and the aorta is attached to the right ventricle. This results in abnormal circulation of blood. These babies usually become blue a few hours after birth. Surgical intervention is curative. The procedure used is the "Arterial Switch Operation". The operation is performed through a midline sternotomy incision. The pulmonary artery and the aorta are "switched" back to their normal positions and the coronary arteries are attached to the new aorta in the correct positions.
Click here to see a picture of an actual TGA looks like prior to repair(note: this is a picture taken during surgery and so might be disturbing for some people)
\
