The large majority of infants and children with atrioventricular (AV) septal defects will have signs and symptoms that their heart is not pumping blood normally, and they will need surgery to fix the defect. The surgeon will operate to close the holes in the septa using patches and to divide the central, or common, valve into two valves, one on the right and one on the left.
The details of the surgery will depend on how severe your child’s defect is and will be planned to meet your child’s needs.
If your child has heart failure, they may need other treatment to help their heart work in addition to the surgery.