Clinical Profile of Patients with Congenital Corrected Transposition of the Great Arteries

Of 60 patients with congenital corrected transposition of the great arteries, 44 (73 per cent) are still alive. The oldest has lived for 41 years and five months, and seven (16 per cent) are over 20 years of age. Twenty-five patients (42 per cent) had a single ventricle, 31 an associated ventricular septal defect, and four an intact ventricular septum. Twenty-seven (45 per cent) had pulmonary stenosis and 23 per cent left-atrioventricular-valve regurgitation. Associated lesions included subaortic stenosis (four) and left-atrioventricular-valve atresia or stenosis (six). The usual ausculatory, roentgenographic and electrocardiographic criteria were found to be inaccurate. Short of autopsy or surgery, catheterization offers the only reliable evidence for the diagnosis. Surgical procedures included Brock valvulotomies, systemic-pulmonary-artery anastomoses, atrial-septal-defect creations, pulmonary-artery bandings and pacemaker insertions. Forty-seven per cent of the original 60 patients are reasonably well without surgical intervention.