Your child's treatment for a congenital heart defect will be based on the type of problem he or she has. Your child's age, size, and general health also are important.

Treatment helps most children to live fairly normal lives. Your child may need:

• Medicines to help with symptoms. Some medicines can control a heartbeat that is not regular. Others make the heart stronger until a defect can be fixed. Your child may need some medicines after surgery.
• Heart catheterization to find out details about the heart defect or sometimes to repair the defect. With heart catheterization, a doctor threads a thin, flexible tube called a catheter through a blood vessel-typically in the groin-and into the heart. This lets the doctor see how blood is flowing through the heart and heart arteries.
• Surgery to repair the structural defect. If a young baby (for example, newborn to 3 months old) has a life-threatening defect, surgery may be needed right away. For some defects, the best time for surgery is before the child is 2 years old. For other defects, the best time may be between the ages of 2 and 4. In some cases, surgery may be done when a child is older. Surgery may be delayed if the defect is likely to heal on its own.

Initial treatment

If your child has a mild heart defect, a doctor may want to see if the defect gets better on its own. Your child may need some medicines during this time to help his or her heart work better. For example, a medicine called a prostaglandin inhibitor can be given to a premature baby to help close a patent ductus arteriosus.

Heart catheterization may be done to partially or completely repair a defect. More severe defects require surgery.

If a newborn needs surgery, the surgery may be delayed until the baby is stronger. If the defect threatens the baby's life, surgery will be done right away.

Medicines may be given in a vein for severe defects such as coarctation of the aorta, transposition of the great vessels, or tetralogy of Fallot.

Medicine, heart catheterization, or surgery may also be used as initial treatment for a mild congenital heart defect that is not noticed until later in childhood, adolescence, or early adulthood.

Ongoing treatment

If your child needs surgery, your doctor may want to wait until your child is about 2 to 4 years old. Meanwhile, caring for your child who has a heart problem can be hard. You may need to keep track of many medicines and make frequent trips to the doctor. Costs can be overwhelming. And you may feel guilty, as if something you did caused the child to have a heart defect. The defect is not your fault. Try to find support groups and other parents who can help you with the many emotions involved.