Before the era of cardiac surgery about half of the patients born with a congenital heart defect died within the first year of life. Survival until adulthood was very rare for patients with transposition of the great arteries (20 years survival <1 %), rare with tetralogy of Fallot (20 years survival <10%) and although survival beyond two decades was more common for patients with atrial septal defect, ventricular septal defect and pulmonary stenosis, their life expectancy also was considerably reduced.

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Cardio Holland bv, Bard Benelux nv, Kluwer Academic Publishers, Netherlands Heart Foundation
J. Hess (Jakob)
Erasmus University Rotterdam
hdl.handle.net/1765/21630
Erasmus MC: University Medical Center Rotterdam

Meijboom, F. (1995, May 24). Long-term outcome after surgery for congenital heart disease in infancy and childhood. Retrieved from http://hdl.handle.net/1765/21630