Heart Murmur
Murmurs are pathologic heart sounds that are produced as a result of turbulent blood flow that is sufficient to produce audible noise. Most murmurs can only be heard with the assistance of a stethoscope ("on auscultation").
A functional murmur or "physiologic murmur" is a heart murmur that is primarily due to physiologic conditions outside the heart, as opposed to structural defects in the heart itself. Functional murmurs are benign (an "innocent murmur").
Murmurs may also be the result of various problems, such as narrowing or leaking of valves, or the presence of abnormal passages through which blood flows in or near the heart. Such murmurs, known as pathologic murmurs, should be evaluated by an expert.
Heart murmurs are most frequently categorized by timing, into systolic heart murmurs and diastolic heart murmurs. However, continuous murmurs cannot be directly placed into either category.
Read more about Heart Murmur: Classification, Interventions That Change Murmur Sounds, Examples of Anatomic Source of Murmur, Cooing Dove Murmur
Famous quotes containing the words heart and/or murmur:
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—Zora Neale Hurston (1891–1960)
“When, said Mr. Phillips, he communicated to a New Bedford audience, the other day, his purpose of writing his life, and telling his name, and the name of his master, and the place he ran from, the murmur ran round the room, and was anxiously whispered by the sons of the Pilgrims, “He had better not!” and it was echoed under the shadow of the Concord monument, “He had better not!””
—Henry David Thoreau (1817–1862)