Heart murmurs
| Cardiac murmurs and other cardiac sounds | |
|---|---|
 |
|
| Auscultogram from normal and abnormal heart sounds | |
| Classification and external resources | |
| Specialty | Cardiology |
| ICD-10 | R01 |
| ICD-9-CM | 785.2-785.3 |
| DiseasesDB | 29151 |
| MedlinePlus | 003266 |
| MeSH | D006337 |
Heart murmurs are heart sounds produced when blood flows across one of the heart valves that are loud enough to be heard with a stethoscope.
There are two types of murmurs. A functional murmur or "physiologic murmur" is a heart murmur that is primarily due to physiologic conditions outside the heart. Other types of murmurs are due to structural defects in the heart itself. Functional murmurs are benign (an "innocent murmur").
Murmurs may also be the result of various problems, such as narrowing or leaking of valves, or the presence of abnormal passages through which blood flows in or near the heart. Such murmurs, known as pathologic murmurs, should be evaluated by an expert.
Heart murmurs are most frequently categorized by timing, into systolic heart murmurs and diastolic heart murmurs, differing in the part of the heartbeat on which they can be heard. However, continuous murmurs cannot be directly placed into either category.
Murmurs can be classified by seven different characteristics: timing, shape, location, radiation, intensity, pitch and quality.
A mnemonic to remember what characteristics to look for when listening to murmurs is SCRIPT: Site, Configuration (shape), Radiation, Intensity, Pitch and quality, and Timing in the cardiac cycle.
The use of two simple mnemonics may help differentiate systolic and diastolic murmurs; PASS and PAID. Pulmonary and aortic stenoses are systolic while pulmonary and aortic insufficiency (regurgitation) are diastolic. Mitral and tricuspid defects are opposite.
Systolic
Aortic valve stenosis typically is a crescendo/decrescendo systolic murmur best heard at the right upper sternal border sometimes with radiation to the carotid arteries. In mild aortic stenosis, the crescendo-decrescendo is early peaking whereas in severe aortic stenosis, the crescendo is late-peaking, and the S2 heart sound may be obliterated.
...
Wikipedia