Evaluation of Heart Murmurs in Children and Adolescents

Heart murmurs are frequently detected in children from birth to adolescence and cause a great deal of anxiety in both parents and physicians.

Although the majority of heart murmurs are functional (not due to structural cardiac defects), most congenital heart defects and acquired heart diseases manifest themselves with heart murmurs (organic murmurs). Thus the presence of a heart murmur should always raise the suspicion of cardiac disease.

Accordingly you must be able to differentiate functional from organic murmurs. This task becomes relatively easy once you have mastered the technique of proper cardiovascular assessment.