D-TGA (Dextro-Transposition of the Great Arteries) is a Congenital(meaning present at birth) Heart Defect (CHD) where the two main arteries that carry blood out of the heart — the aorta and the pulmonary artery — are reversed or transposed. In a normal heart, the aorta carries oxygen-rich blood to the body, while the pulmonary artery carries oxygen-poor blood to the lungs. However, in D-TGA, the aorta arises from the right ventricle, and the pulmonary artery arises from the left ventricle.

This misplacement causes oxygen-poor blood to be pumped to the body, and oxygen-rich blood to be sent back to the lungs, resulting in a lack of oxygen in the body's tissues. Without proper treatment, D-TGA can lead to severe complications, but if diagnosed early it is typically treated surgically to correct the defect, often with a procedure called an arterial switch operation(ASO).

In our case, Baby P’s heart is favorable for the surgery. We have been told by our team that the arteries are closely symmetrical which is important for the switch itself.

CHDs affect about 1% of live births in the United States, or approximately 40,000 babies per year. 

• This makes CHDs the most common birth defect in the country. 

About 1 in 3,957 babies in the United States are born with a d-TGA. This means that about 928 babies are born with d-TGA each year. D-TGA is a CHD occurring in about 1 in 4000 live births. Although some cases of d-TGA have been linked to rare variants in specific genes, the genetic basis for most cases remains unclear.