Approach to Cardiac Murmurs

A murmur is a sound generated when blood travels through vessels or valves in a turbulent or energy-dissipating manner. It can be an important clue to a structural abnormality of the cardiovascular system. However, over 50% of people have murmurs during childhood, but less than one percent are associated with congenital heart disease. Thus, the vast majority of murmurs are benign or innocent rather than pathological. Furthermore, although imaging modalities such as echocardiograms can detect many cardiac lesions, the final diagnosis of an innocent murmur is via a physician’s clinical assessment.