Cardiac muscle the walls of a house contain electrical wires and plumbing, cardiac muscle also contains specialised cells for conducting electrical signals rapidly (the cardiac conduction system), and blood vessels to bring nutrients to the muscle cells and take away waste products (the coronary arteries, veins and capillary network). Cardiac muscle cells or cardiomyocytes are the contracting cells which allow the heart to pump. Each cardiomyocyte needs to contract in coordination with its neighbouring cells to efficiently pump blood from the heart, and if this coordination breaks down then – despite individual cells contracting – the heart may not pump at all,
Transposition of the great vessels Transposition of the great vessels Transposition of the great vessels (TGV) is a group of congenital heart defects involving an abnormal spatial arrangement of any of the great vessels: superior and/or inferior venae cavae, pulmonary artery, pulmonary veins, and aorta. Congenital heart diseases involving only the primary arteries (pulmonary artery and aorta) belong to a sub-group called transposition of the great arteries. Transposed vessels can present a large variety of atriovenous, ventriculoarterial and/or arteriovenous discordance. The effects may range from a change in blood pressure to an interruption in circulation, depending on the nature and degree of the misplacement and