$Unique_ID{PAR00094}
$Pretitle{}
$Title{Medical Advice:  Heart Murmurs, Innocent}
$Subtitle{}
$Author{
Editors of Consumer Guide
Chasnoff, Ira J}
$Subject{Innocent Heart Murmurs sound sounds pump pumps blood insignificant
murmur functional murmurs heartbeat heartbeats ventricle ventricles chamber
chambers heart muscle contracts valves contract valve electrocardiogram
echocardiogram}
$Log{}

Your Child:  A Medical Guide


Heart Murmurs, Innocent


     Quick Reference

     SYMPTOM
     - Extra sounds made by the heart that are known not to indicate an
       abnormality

     HOME CARE
     - No home care is required for an innocent murmur.

     PRECAUTIONS
     - Believe your doctor's assurance that innocent murmurs are normal.
     - Do not make the mistake of overprotecting a child who has an innocent
       murmur.  It is not necessary.
     - Try not to be alarmed by the long medical names given to innocent
       murmurs.
     - Most innocent murmurs disappear by the time the child is a teenager.


     A heart murmur is an extra sound made by the heart as it pumps.  A heart
murmur may indicate abnormalities in the heart, or it may simply be a normal
sound caused by turbulence as the blood rushes through the heart.  The sounds
that do not indicate heart disease or abnormalities may be called "innocent
murmurs," "insignificant murmurs, " or "functional murmurs."  They are
perfectly normal.
     Some experts believe that almost every healthy child has at least one
innocent murmur, and if the child will stay still long enough in a quiet room
a doctor will eventually be able to hear it.  Other experts put the figure
lower, at half of all normal children.  As the child grows, the extra sounds
usually become increasingly hard to hear.  By the time the child is a
teenager, the murmur usually has disappeared or become so quiet that it cannot
be detected.  Only 15 to 20 percent of innocent murmurs continue into
adolescence or adulthood.

SIGNS AND SYMPTOMS

     When a child is born and again at periodic checkups, the doctor will
listen to the child's heartbeat with a stethoscope.  The doctor is checking to
see if the heartbeat is regular and strong, as well as to detect heart
murmurs.  Ordinarily, the doctor will hear the noise made by the ventricles
(the lower chambers of the heart) as the heart muscle contracts.  Also, the
valves that regulate the flow of blood through the heart can be heard as they
shut.  Any unexpected sounds that the heart makes are called "murmurs."  The
doctor can usually identify the innocent murmurs.
     If any murmur is found, however, the doctor may recommend a complete
examination of the child's heart, to make sure that the heart and circulation
are normal and healthy.  This will involve taking a detailed medical history,
making a complete physical examination, and possibly performing some special
studies, such as an electrocardiogram, a chest x-ray examination, and an
echocardiogram, in which sound waves bounced off the heart are recorded to
form a visual image.

HOME CARE

     An innocent murmur is completely normal and does not require any
treatment or extra care.  Treat the child as the normal, healthy child that he
or she is.

PRECAUTIONS

  -  No precautions are needed.  Sometimes parents are frightened by the idea
     of a heart murmur and overprotect a child whose heart is quite normal.
     This is not good for the child's health or well-being.
  -  If your doctor diagnoses an innocent murmur, do not be alarmed by the
     complicated names for innocent murmurs or by the tests your child may
     have.

MEDICAL TREATMENT

     No medical treatment is necessary for an innocent murmur.  The doctor may
listen for the murmur at routine checkups to see if the sound can still be
heard, but it really doesn't matter whether the murmur continues or not.
     Occasionally, an innocent murmur will sound like another type of murmur.
If this happens, the doctor may wish to check the child's heart again after a
few years, to be sure that the original diagnosis was correct.