Between January 1983 and December 2000, 78 patients underwent primary repair of a ventricular septal defect. There were 42 males (54%) and 36 females (46%) of whom 13 (17%) were under 1 year old, 50 (64%) were aged 1-10 years, 11 (14%) were aged 10-20 years, and 4 (5%) were over 20 years old. The ventricular septal defect was a perimembranous type in 60 patients (77%), subarterial (outlet) type in 10 (13%), and atrioventricular canal (inlet) type in 4 (5%). Operative repair was performed with a patch in all except 2 patients. Early postoperative complications included insignificant aortic regurgitation in 4 patients, persistent complete heart block in 1, and residual shunt in 4. There were 5 early deaths (6.4%) and 1 late death (1.8%) in 56 patients followed up. Early primary closure of ventricular septal defects, usually via a right atriotomy, can be performed with acceptable mortality and morbidity rates.