Transposition Of The Great Vessels

• Major blood vessels (aorta and pulmonary artery) are reversed – leads to low oxygen levels as blood goes to the wrong places.
• Pulmonary artery gets oxygenated blood and the aorta receives deoxygenated blood. It should be the other way around.
• The right side of the heart is not strong enough to pump blood to the entire body – increased workload leads to a weakened heart.
• There are different types of transposition of great vessels with slightly different placements and openings that result in blood mixing.
• The child must have a certain other heart defect as well if this defect is present – these other defects compensate for the transposition of great vessels as oxygenated and deoxygenated blood mix.