Download Innocent Heart Murmurs

Innocent Heart Murmurs
What is an innocent heart murmur?
Innocent heart murmurs are murmurs
found in people with normal hearts.
Innocent heart murmurs—also called
functional, normal, vibratory or
physiologic murmurs—are harmless.
They are common in children and may
disappear and reappear throughout
childhood. They change depending
on the varying acoustics with growth,
and the amount of blood flow through
the heart (just as more water flowing
through a pipe makes a louder sound
even if the pipe is normal). If your child
has an innocent heart murmur, the
sound may become louder whenever
he or she is excited or frightened or has
a fever. Innocent heart murmurs cause
no problems, and most disappear or are
not heard after a child nears adulthood
because of the changes in heart rate,
acoustic (most adults are bigger and
fatter) and relative amount of blood flow
through the heart.
How does it occur?
Your heart makes sounds (“lub-dub”
when the heart valves close. Normally, it
is silent between beats. An innocent
murmur is a sound between beats that
does not indicate something is wrong
with the structure of the heart. It is just
a sound made because of the way the
blood flows through the heart. The
doctor will often be able to tell what is
causing the turbulence when he or she
notes the location of the murmur and
listens to all the sounds the heart makes.
Other tests are done if the sounds
suggest a possible problem with
the heart.
How is it diagnosed?
An innocent heart murmur is usually
diagnosed by the doctor listening to the
heart through a stethoscope. Sometimes
an electrocardiogram or an
echocardiogram may help the doctor
decide if what they heard is normal
or not. An electrocardiogram is a
recording of the heart’s electrical activity
that uses ultrasound waves to record
pictures of the structures inside the
heart. Rarely, chest x-rays are ordered.
All of these tests are painless. In fact,
none of the tests can really tell the
doctor what he heard, but they may help
in making decisions.
How is it treated?
Innocent heart murmurs never require
any treatment. You do not need to
schedule follow-up visits to the doctor,
nor do you need to limit physical activity.
KIDS-1966-REVJL1411