Basketball Physical reveals heart murmur

  15 year old Grandson had team physical for basketball today and could not pass due to heart murmur being detected and blood pressure 150/60
  was referred to family physician. No symptoms.  No previous problems with athletic physicals.  Comments please...
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Dear Rex,
Thank you for your question.  A new heart murmur in a child can be due to a variety of conditions.  Potential causes include the following: flow murmur (benign and normal), heart valve problem, hypertrophic cardiomyopathy (thickening of the heart), ASD or VSD (hole between the heart chambers), and some very rare conditions.  
A new murmur should be evaluated by his doctor and possibly be a cardiologist if his doctor thinks this is necessary.  An echocardiogram is often performed to evaluate the heart valves and structrues.
I hope you find this information useful.  Information provided in the heart forum is for general purposes only.  Only your physician can provide specific diagnoses and therapies.  Please feel free to write back with additional questions.
If you would like to make an appointment at the Cleveland Clinic Heart Center, please call 1-800-CCF-CARE or inquire online by using the Heart Center website at www.ccf.org/heartcenter.  The Heart Center website contains a directory of the cardiology staff that can be used to select the physician best suited to address your cardiac problem.