Prognosis
The course of this congenital disease depends mainly on the blood circulation in the lungs. If the blood supply to the lungs is low, i.e. the defect is large – i.e. the pulmonary artery is (almost) completely blocked – life expectancy is unfortunately low.
Without treatment, every second person affected dies before the age of 20.Rare cases are also known in the literature in which the patients become considerably older. If the heart defect is corrected surgically, there is a good life expectancy afterwards. The operation itself is of course accompanied by its own risks.
Bleeding, infections and the like are conceivable. However, various studies show that the survival rate is not very much dependent on age. As a rule, however, children are usually operated on at a fairly early age, between 3 and 6 months.
