Between 1983 and 1993, 250 patients over 16 years of age who had undergone a surgical correction of a congenital cardiovascular disease were reviewed. 222 patients were divided into acyanotic group and 28 patients were cyanotic group. The most common defects were atrial septal defect [96 patients and ventricular septal defect [95 patients . There were 128 patients in the third decade, 71 patients under 20 years of age, 40 patients in the fourth decade and 11 patients over 40 years of age. The male to female ratio was 1.05:1. Operative mortality was 6.8% [4.1% in the acyanotic group and 26.8% in the cyanotic group and the most common cause of death was low cardiac output syndrome.