Heart murmur: Difference between revisions

'''Heart murmurs''' are unique [[heart sounds]] produced when [[blood flow]]s across a [[heart valve]] or blood vessel.<ref name=":1">{{Cite web |date=25 March 2022 |title=Patient education: Heart murmurs (The Basics) |url=https://www.uptodate.com/contents/heart-murmurs-the-basics?source=history_widget |access-date=25 March 2022 |website=UpToDate}}</ref> This occurs when turbulent blood flow creates a sound loud enough to hear with a [[stethoscope]].<ref name=":0">{{Cite book |title=Braunwald's heart disease: a textbook of cardiovascular medicine |date=2019 |others=Douglas P. Zipes, Peter Libby, Robert O. Bonow, Douglas L. Mann, Gordon F. Tomaselli, Eugene Braunwald |isbn=978-0-323-46342-3 |edition=Eleventh |location=Philadelphia |oclc=1030994993}}</ref> Turbulent blood flow is not smooth.<ref>{{Cite book |title=Hurst's the heart |date=2017 |others=Valentin Fuster, Robert A. Harrington, Jagat Narula, Zubin J. Eapen |isbn=9780071843249 |edition=14th |location=New York |oclc=976001975}}</ref> The sound differs from normal heart sounds by their characteristics. For example, heart murmurs may have a distinct pitch, duration and timing.<ref name=":0" /><ref name=":2">{{Cite book |last=Bickley |first=Lynn S. |title=Bates' guide to physical examination and history taking |date=2021 |others=Peter G. Szilagyi, Richard M. Hoffman, Rainier P. Soriano |isbn=978-1-4963-9817-8 |edition=Thirteenth |location=Philadelphia |oclc=1153338113}}</ref> The major way health care providers examine the heart on physical exam is heart [[auscultation]];<ref name=":2" /> another clinical technique is [[palpation]], which can detect by touch when such turbulence causes the vibrations called '''cardiac thrill'''.<ref>{{Cite web |url=https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/medgen/534403# |title=Cardiac thrill |publisher=nih.gov |access-date=8 June 2022}}</ref> A murmur is a [[Signs and symptoms|sign]] found during the [[cardiac exam]]. Murmurs are of various types and are important in the detection of cardiac and valvular pathologies (i.e. can be a sign of heart diseases or defects).