27 december 2019
Leiden-Delft-Groningen - 3D model Transposition of the great arteries - numbered English labels
In a transposition of the main arteries, the two main arteries are switched. The aorta connects to the right ventricle, instead of the left ventricle. The pulmonary trunk connects to the left ventricle, instead of to the right ventricle. Because of this, the pulmonary and the systemic circulation, which are normally connected, are separated. The oxygen-rich blood in the pulmonary circulation flows through the lungs, then via the left atrium and ventricle back into the pulmonary artery and back into the lungs. Deoxygenated blood flows through the body into the caval veins to the right atrium and ventricle into the aorta, back into the aorta. Hence, the oxygen that is breathed in, never reaches the systemic circulation and carbon dioxide produced in the body never reaches the lungs to be expired; a lethal situation.
Anna Sieben, Monique R.M. Jongbloed, Ludo de Goeje, Bonnie Schaafsma, Bert J. Wisse