Morphology of compensatory/adaptive myocardial changes in cardiac patients with transposition of great vessels

Of congenital heart diseases (CHD), the ones with expressed hypoxaemia, and specifically with transposition of great vessels (TGV), present a real challenge for cardiac surgeons, cardiologists and neonatologists. In the context of new technologies being used in CHD surgery, studying compensatory hypertrophy of the myocardium in this pathology has acquired a new meaning. Up to now, there has been no full explanation of neither the nature of the factors limiting on-going hypertrophy nor the mechanisms of myocardium dysfunction. Notwithstanding the fact that hypertrophy and hyperplasia are two different, clear-cut processes, both frequently occur together while compensating anatomic/ hemodynamic disorders in CHD patients. In this study a comparative evaluation of hypotrophic/hyperplastic-type compensation of myocardium in infants with TGV has been carried out by using morphological methods.