Answered by SecondMedic Expert
Cardiologist · Cardiology / Heart disease
The short answer is it depends on the type of hole in the heart, and how successful the surgery was. If a child has an atrial septal defect (ASD) or ventricular septal defect (VSD), both are common types of holes in the heart that can be repaired surgically with good results, then life expectancy should not be affected once the surgery has been completed successfully.
However, if a child has complex cardiac anomalies such as transposition of great vessels or Tetralogy of Fallot, chances are that his/her life span may be significantly reduced due to these severe abnormalities. The success rate for surgeries involving such anomalies is also quite low compared to other forms of congenital heart disease and often require very specialized long-term medical care for successful outcomes.
Therefore, overall, it really depends on the type of hole in the heart and how successful its repair was. Generally speaking though, so long as there were no complications during surgery or afterwards people with simple holes like ASD growing up can expect a normal lifespan without any significant risk to their health associated with this condition after they have received appropriate treatment.