Transposition of the great vessels overview


 * Associate Editor(s)-In-Chief: Priyamvada Singh, M.B.B.S. [mailto:psingh@perfuse.org]; ; Keri Shafer, M.D. [mailto:kshafer@bidmc.harvard.edu]; Assistant Editor(s)-In-Chief: Kristin Feeney, B.S. [mailto:kfeeney@perfuse.org]

Overview
It refers to a group of congenital heart defects involving an abnormal spatial arrangement of any of the primary blood vessel:superior vena cava and/or inferior vena cava, pulmonary artery, pulmonary veins, and aorta.



Transposition of the great vessels (TGV)


 * It refers to a group of congenital heart defects involving an abnormal spatial arrangement of any of the primary blood vessel:superior vena cava and/or inferior vena cava,pulmonary artery, pulmonary veins, and aorta.


 * The clinical signs and symptoms associated with TGV may range from a change in blood pressure to an interruption in circulation, depending on the nature and degree of the misplacement and which vessels are involved.
 * The term "TGV" is often used as a more specific reference to transposition of the great arteries TGA; however, TGA only relates to the aorta and the pulmonary artery, whereas TGV is a broader term which can relate to these vessels as well as the SVC, IVC, and pulmonary veins.
 * In its strictest sense, transposition of vessels relates only to defects in which two or more vessels have "swapped" positions; in a broader sense, it may be taken to relate to any defect in which a vessel is in an abnormal position.
 * The terms TGV and TGA are most commonly used in reference to dextro-TGA- in which the arteries are in swapped positions.
 * Both terms are also commonly used, though to a slightly lesser extent, in reference to Levo-Transposition of the great arteries- in which both the arteries and the ventricles are swapped; while other defects in this category are almost never referred to by either of these terms.
 * CHDs involving only the primary arteries (pulmonary artery and aorta) belong to a sub-group called transposition of the great arteries.
 * Most patients have an interatrial communication. Two-thirds have a patent ductus arteriosus, and about one-third have a ventricular septal defect.