How do you understand transposition of the great arteries?

  Complete transposition of the great arteries (TGA) is the most common form of cyanotic congenital heart disease in the neonatal period, with an incidence of 0.2‰-0.3‰. The incidence of TGA is 11.4 times higher in diabetic mothers than in normal mothers. About 90% of patients die within 1 year of age.  The most important clinical manifestation is cyanosis, which appears early and is present at birth in half of cases, and is the most common precocious disease in which cyanosis is found at birth. The cyanosis gradually worsens with age and increased activity.   Complete transposition of the great arteries without other malformations creates two parallel circulations. Venous blood returning from the superior and inferior vena cava supplies the whole body through the right ventricle to the transposed aorta, while oxygenated blood returning from the pulmonary veins shoots through the left heart into the transposed pulmonary artery to reach the lungs. Patients must rely on intracardiac traffic (patent foramen ovale, atrial septal defect, ventricular septal defect) or extracardiac traffic (patent ductus arteriosus, collateral vessels) for blood flow mixing to survive. Hemodynamic changes in this disease depend on the presence or absence of other malformations, the degree of mixing of the left and right heart blood communications, and the narrowing of the pulmonary arteries. The complete transposition of the great arteries can be divided into three major categories according to the combination of ventricular septal defect and pulmonary artery stenosis: 1, complete transposition of the great arteries with intact ventricular septum: the right ventricular load increases and enlarges hypertrophy, with the normal pulmonary vascular resistance decreases, the left ventricular pressure decreases, the ventricular septum is often biased towards the left ventricle, the two only rely on the foramen ovale and arterial duct to communicate and mix, so the cyanosis and hypoxia are serious.  2.Complete transposition of the great arteries combined with ventricular septal defect: complete transposition of the great arteries with ventricular septal defect can make the left and right heart blood communication mix more, so that the cyanosis is reduced, but the increase of pulmonary blood flow can lead to heart failure.  3. Complete transposition of the arteries with ventricular septal defect and pulmonary stenosis: hemodynamic changes are similar to those in tetralogy of Fallot.  Echocardiography is a common method to diagnose complete transposition of the great arteries. The diagnosis is established if the dichotomous ultrasound shows normal atrioventricular connections and inconsistent ventricular aortic connections. The aorta is often located anteriorly on the right and emanates from the right ventricle, and the pulmonary artery is located posteriorly on the left and emanates from the left ventricle. Color and spectral Doppler ultrasonography can help to determine the direction and size of intracardiac shunts and to detect combined malformations.  After diagnosis, the first step is to correct hypoxemia and metabolic acidosis, etc.  Palliative treatment balloon atrial septoplasty (Rashkind procedure) is suitable for children with severe hypoxia who cannot undergo radical surgery, and balloon atrial septoplasty or atrial defect enlargement is feasible to mix a large amount of blood at the atrial level to increase the arterial oxygen saturation and keep the child alive until the child is suitable for radical surgery. Radical surgery aortic reversal (Switch surgery) should be performed within 3 weeks after birth, i.e. aortic and pulmonary artery interchange and coronary artery reimplantation to achieve correction of the anatomical relationship.