What are the treatments for Transposition of the Great Arteries?
Treatments as soon as you are born Everyone with this condition has to have an operation. Doctors have to start treatment for transposition of the great arteries as soon as you are born because it is almost always fatal in the first year of life. . The first thing they have to do is to get some of your oxygenated blood to mix with your de-oxygenated blood so that oxygen gets to the organs of your body. There are two ways they can do this: 1. Keeping the ductus arteriosus open The ductus arteriosus is a little opening that connects your aorta and pulmonary artery which lets your de-oxygenated blood mix with the oxygenated blood. All babies are born with this opening, but it closes over naturally in the hours after birth. If you have transposition of the great arteries, you might be given medicine to keep it open so that oxygen can get to the organs of your body. 2. Keeping the foramen ovale open The foramen ovale is a little hole in the muscle wall between the atria of the heart that al
