If a baby with VSD develops symptoms of congestive heart failure in the first few months of life, palliative surgery may be attempted.
Palliative surgery reduces the symptoms of the defect without correcting the underlying cause.
PA banding is a palliative treatment particularly reserved for those patients who are unable to withstand an open heart procedure for total correction. Pressure increases in the right ventricle and prevents excess shunting from left to right. The operation consists of a thoracotomy to expose the pulmonary artery. A constrictive band is then sutured around the pulmonary artery. The PA band reduces the diameter of the PA and thereby restricts the amount of blood pumped into the lungs.