A 2-week-old baby is irritable and feeding poorly. On physical examination, the infant is irritable, diaphoretic, tachypneic and tachycardic. There is circumoral cyanosis, which is not alleted by nasal oxygen. A systolic thrill and holosystolic murmur are heard along the left sternal border. An echocardiogram reveals a hea defect in which the aoa and pulmonary aery form a single vessel that overrides a ventricular septal defect. What is the appropriate diagnosis?
High-Yield Explanation
Truncus aeriosus refers to a common trunk for the origin of the aoa, pulmonary aeries and coronary aeries. It results from absent or incomplete paitioning of the truncus aeriosus by the spiral septum during development. Most infants with persistent truncus aeriosus have torrential pulmonary blood flow, which leads to hea failure. None of the other choices are distinguished by a single vessel that carries blood from the hea.