What happens to children who have a transposition of the great arteries?

With immediate...: With immediate switch surgery, they do very well, usually without any consequences at all. Delayed surgery carries significant risks, however.

Require surgery: These days, transposition of the great arteries (tga) is sometimes identified on prenatal ultrasounds and otherwise is identified within hours after birth. In tga, the great arteries are reversed when leaving the heart, which means that oxygen-poor blood goes to the body. Tga is life-threatening if uncorrected, however there is a surgical procedure to correct the reversal.

Many Factors: There are many variants of tga and often many associated lesions. The most straightforward type usually requires an immediate catheter procedure called a "balloon septostomy" and a surgery within a week or two called the "arterial switch operation." there are other types that require other treatments. There'ss also a type called congenitally corrected tga that requires no treatment early on.

Early surgery: Surgery needs to be done in the neonatal period in most of the cases. They do well. All patients need life long follow up because they may still develop heart failure and valve problems late in life.

They do well: Babies born with transposition of the great arteries generally require surgery (arterial switch operation) within the first few days of life and the outcome these days is excellent.

Need to follow: Advances in heart surgery and postoperative care have significantly improved survival for individuals with tga. Most do very well from a cardiovascular perspective. However, as many as 30-40% will have some degree of neurodevelopmental delay (learning disabilities, adhd, language delays, et al). More evident with age. All of these children should undergo a careful neurodevelopmental evaluation.

Treated promptly...: They do well. Untreated they do poorly. Hope this helps m.

Good prognosis: If there are no other cardiac defects or other congenital abnormalities, children with transposition have a very good prognosis and life expectancy if they undergo a successful arterial switch operation in the first several days of life