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Review
. 2017 Aug;71(4):284-287.
doi: 10.5455/medarh.2017.71.284-287.

Accidental Heart Murmurs

Edin Begic  1 , Zijo Begic  2
Affiliations
Review

Accidental Heart Murmurs

Edin Begic et al. Med Arch. 2017 Aug.

Abstract

Introduction: Accidental murmurs occur in anatomically and physiologically normal heart. Accidental (innocent) murmurs have their own clearly defined clinical characteristics (asymptomatic, they require minimal follow-up care).

Aim: To point out the significance of auscultation of the heart in the differentiation of heart murmurs and show clinical characteristics of accidental heart murmurs.

Material and methods: Article presents review of literature which deals with the issue of accidental heart murmurs in the pediatric cardiology.

Results: In the group of accidental murmurs we include classic vibratory parasternal-precordial Stills murmur, pulmonary ejection murmur, the systolic murmur of pulmonary flow in neonates, venous hum, carotid bruit, Potaine murmur, benign cephalic murmur and mammary souffle.

Conclusion: Accidental heart murmurs are revealed by auscultation in over 50% of children and youth, with a peak occurrence between 3-6 years or 8-12 years of life. Reducing the frequency of murmurs in the later period can be related to poor conduction of the murmur, although the disappearance of murmur in principle is not expected. It is the most common reason of cardiac treatment of the child, and is a common cause of unreasonable concern of parents.

Keywords: accidental heart murmurs; heart auscultation; heart murmurs.

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Conflict of interest statement

• Conflict of Interest: none declared.

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