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Slide show: Common types of congenital heart defects
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Slide show: Common types of congenital heart defects
By Mayo Clinic staff
Transposition of the great arteries
With this defect, the positions of the aorta — the main artery leading away from the heart — and the pulmonary artery, which leads to the lungs, are reversed (transposed). The aorta and pulmonary arteries are, together, sometimes referred to as the great arteries. The aorta arises from the right ventricle instead of the left ventricle. The pulmonary artery also arises from the left ventricle instead of the right. This prevents nourishing oxygenated blood from reaching the body.
This condition would quickly be fatal to a newborn except it's generally accompanied by another defect — commonly a septal defect or patent ductus arteriosus — that allows oxygen-rich blood to get to the body. Surgery to repair the condition is usually necessary shortly after birth.
Next slide Previous slide- Congenital cardiovascular defects. American Heart Association. http://www.americanheart.org/presenter.jhtml?identifier=4565. Accessed Oct.10, 2008.
- Ventricular septal defect (VSD). American Heart Association. http://www.americanheart.org/presenter.jhtml?identifier=11066. Accessed Oct. 10. 2008.
- Atrial septal defect (ASD). American Heart Association. http://www.americanheart.org/presenter.jhtml?identifier=11065. Accessed Oct. 10, 2008.
- Patent ductus arteriosus. National Heart Lung and Blood Institute. http://www.nhlbi.nih.gov/health/dci/Diseases/pda/pda_what.html. Accessed Oct. 10, 2008.
- Pulmonary valve stenosis. American Heart Association. http://www.americanheart.org/presenter.jhtml?identifier=11070. Accessed Oct. 10, 2008.
- Aortic stenosis. Cincinnati Children's Hospital. http://www.cincinnatichildrens.org/health/heart-encyclopedia/anomalies/avs.htm. Accessed Oct. 10, 2008.
- Agarwala BN, et al. Clinical manifestations and diagnosis of coarctation of the aorta. http://www.uptodate.com. Accessed Oct. 10, 2008.
- Transposition of the great arteries. American heart Association. http://www.americanheart.org/presenter.jhtml?identifier=11074. Accessed Oct. 10, 2008.
- Tetralogy of Fallot. National Heart Lung and Blood Institute. http://www.nhlbi.nih.gov/health/dci/Diseases/tof/tof_all.html. Accessed Oct. 10, 2008.
- Attenhofer Jost CH, et al. Ebstein's anomaly. Circulation. 2007;115(2):277-285.
- Atrioventricular canal defect. American Heart Association. http://www.americanheart.org/presenter.jhtml?identifier=132. Accessed Oct. 10, 2008.
- Hypoplastic left heart syndrome. American Heart Association. http://www.americanheart.org/presenter.jhtml?identifier=1353. Accessed Oct. 10, 2008.
- Truncus arteriosus. American Heart Association. http://www.americanheart.org/presenter.jhtml?identifier=11073 Accessed Oct. 10, 2008.