PAEDIATRIC VSD

Doctor, my 7 yr old son had a VSD & ASD, both measuring 4mm. The ASD closed within a month and the VSD now measures little less than 3mm with trivial AR. He weighs 25kgs and by God's grace,  is very active & healthy, with no other complications....i want to know if his condition requires surgery or if we can give the VSD time to close by itself...and if so, what is the maximum time a VSD takes to spontaneously close???.............

[Jeffrey R Boris, M.D.]

Dear Mahendran,

Without evaluating your son's studies, I cannot say what the likelihood of his ventricular septal defect closing is, nor what the likelihood of surgery is.  Typically, these close within the first several years, although I have seen them close into adolescence.  Overall, though, with trivial aortic valve regurgitation, this should be observed.  It probably does not need repair, although occasionally the aortic valve can become deformed by the jet of blood traversing the defect.  This can lead to the aortic valve leaking more, which then does require surgical closure of the defect as well as possible repair of the valve.