What Are The Symptoms And Complications Of Transposition Of The Great Arteries?

Cyanosis

Cyanosis is a condition best described as a blue coloring of the lips, nail beds, and skin due to a shortage of oxygen in the affected individual's blood. The defective anatomy of the heart in these patients causes the blood to flow into the heart and back out without picking up oxygen from the lungs. The oxygen-poor blood is pumped back out to the tissues around the body. The higher amount of oxygen-poor blood in circulation around the body of TGA patients may be able to be prominently seen through their skin. This abnormal coloring occurs because when the hemoglobin contains oxygen, it takes on a bright red color. However, when the hemoglobin doesn't contain oxygen, it turns a dark red. Infants with TGA will exhibit a blue coloring of the skin and mucous membranes because light reflects off of the dark red, oxygen-poor blood through the skin differently than it does with the bright red oxygenated blood. Transposition of the great arteries is considered to be a cyanotic congenital heart defect because it often manifests as cyanosis.

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