Externally audible heart clicking noise.

[Mike BP]

I have just discovered that my 16 year old son, in excellent health, occasionally has episodes when an audible clicking noise is noticeable coming from his chest.  It is easily heard in a quiet room when sitting beside him.  Listening to it with my ear on his chest it definitely seems to be associated with/part of his heart beat.  

Is this something to worry about or just an occasionally noisy valve?  He says it only seems to happen when he is sitting down in a certain position. There is no apparent discomfort associated with it.  He has recently resumed sprint training but tells me it has happened a few times this year, during the off-season.

[CCF CARDIO MD JMF]

Dear Mike,

This is not normal and I would have it evaluated by his physician.  It may represent an abnormal valve which at this point may be of no consequence but may need to be followed and antibiotics may need to be taken with dental procedures if his valve is abnormal.  This can easily be assessed by an echocardiogram if necessary.

[DeAnne]

Hi,
I am so happy that there is someonelse that hears this too !
Well, not happy that your son has this, but at least I know I am not nuts ! I posted here in Sept.  I copied my post again here from that date. I have had this "clicking sound" happen again, this time I caught it with my stethoscope.  It sounds like a quick "gurgle" or "pop" sort of?  BUT, I do hear it when the room is quiet.  But it is not very often, but there !
Please, can you kind doctors put your heads together and try to see what this may be?
Here is my other post:
Hi, I am a young woman with a epicardial pacemaker due to a congenital SVC defect issue, outside the heart itself, that was repaired, with open chest surgery in Jan. of 99. I have SSS and tachy-brady, thus the pacer. I get fast heart rates when turning over in bed that either fall rapidily to my paced rate or go down slowly. This also happens when standing up and or sitting down. Now and then I feel PVC's when this happens.  But, last night I got up and down, during the night, and my HR went from about 60, to over 130 to down to 80 after laying back down. But the strangest thing was, that I heard this "Clicking" sound in my chest. I also felt it. It was right where my heart is. I also have a pectus so my heart is sandwiched inbetween my sternum and spine and is up against my chestwall. It was about every two or three beats. My HR was 80 at the time. It did go away after about 2 minutes and my HR slowed back down. This happened before about 2 weeks ago and thought nothing about it til now. I have had some very fast rates that the pacer picked up that the doc thinks may be a-fib. She was able to induce a-fib on an EP study. I did not have ablation done though. I wanted to ask if this is possible, to hear MVP? I am on no meds at this time. Thanks for anything you can tell me.

[Gregory Gomez]

Greetings!

There is probably nothing to worry about,
but it would be a good idea to make an
appointment for your son with a cardiologist
to run a few tests, such as a chest x-ray, a
stress test, and an echo cardiogram using
color doppler.

Best regards,

Greg

[CCF CARDIO MD JMF]

thank you for your input.

[RE: Clicking noise?]

Dear Dr:
I saw that you answered "Mikes" post, can you please comment on mine?  This "click" happened again Sunday night.  There seems to be no regularity to mine though.  I will hear it only now and then, and then it may go away for a week and then return. This "click" only happens for a minute or so after I laid down, and then stops. It just seems to happen, or at least I can only hear it at night. Please do you have any ideas on this?

Thank you for all your kind help.
Dee

[CCF CARDIO MD JMF]

Dear Dee,

This might be a particularly forceful heart beat after a PVC caused by the closure of a heart valve.  It is likely of no consequence if it is just an occassional occurence.