Atrial or ventricular septal defects are common congenital heart diseases, occurring in about one in every thousand newborns and accounting for 15% to 20% of all congenital heart conditions.
They are more common in females, with a male-to-female ratio of approximately one to two.
Defects with a diameter of less than 5 millimeters have a high chance of healing on their own before the age of five. If a septal defect has not closed by age five, surgical treatment needs to be considered.
The optimal age for surgery is between seven and ten years old.
The main treatment methods are transcatheter intervention by the cardiology department and surgical treatment by the cardiac surgery department.
Interventional therapy is limited, targeting simple types of atrioventricular septal defects with mild symptoms.
Complex atrioventricular septal defects with large diameters or multiple co-occurring conditions are usually treated with open-heart surgery.
