Which view is most informative for identifying abnormal parallel arrangement of the great arteries in transposition of the great arteries (TGA)?

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Understanding how the great arteries relate to each other is the key when transposition of the great arteries is suspected. The three-vessel/trachea view is designed to display the great vessels in one plane with the trachea as a midline landmark, making their spatial relationship easy to assess. In this condition, the aorta and pulmonary artery originate from the opposite ventricles and run parallel rather than crossing, so they appear side by side rather than in a crossing pattern. This parallel arrangement is most readily recognized in the three-vessel/trachea view because it directly shows how the two great vessels course relative to each other and to the trachea. Other views focus on chamber morphology or a single outflow tract and don’t reveal the parallel great-artery relationship as clearly.