Re: Heart Murmur

Posted By CCF Cardio MD-SGM on April 18, 1998 at 20:23:13:

In Reply to: Heart Murmur posted by Chris on April 10, 1998 at 16:36:35:






I am a 41 year old female.  When I was about 27, I was diagnosed with a heart murmur.  It never created any problems for me and not a single doctor every pursued the diagnosis.
Back in November, I started having chest pains.  At first I thought it was indigestion, but then in reoccurred basically once a month.  I have seen a doctor and am being referred to a cardiologist or appropriate doctor for an echo.
Although I understand that the diagnosis has to come from my own doctor, it would ease my mind a bit it you could direct me to factual information on heart murmurs, echocardiograms, etc.
Many thanks.



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Dear Chris,
Heart murmurs come in different color and flavors.  A murmur in a young, healthy person can
be the result of one of the following situations, for example:  benign flow murmur (not requiring
of any therapy), atrial septal defect (may require catheter-based or surgical correction), mitral
or aortic regurgitation (therapy depends on severity of the problem), aortic stenosis (often
due to an abnormal aortic valve from birth-- again, therapy depends on severity of the problem
but often needs surgical correction).  Other causes for the murmur certainly exist, including
hypertrophic cardiomyopathy, for example.  I think the best thing to do is go ahead with
the echocardiogram and discuss the results with your cardiologist.
On the subject of  echocardiograms, these are completely painless, noninvasive tests that use
an ultrasound probe to image the heart.  There is no risk involve, and the procedure is performed
in under half an hour.  Also, you need to discuss with your doctor the quality of the chest pains you're having.  Although unusual, young men are still at risk for coronary artery disease.  You'll want
to be sure that your doctor has considered this possibility as the cause of the pains.  
Best of luck. Sorry I couldn't be more specific regarding the murmur's cause.  Feel free to write
back when you get some more information.  The Heart Forum is for general, educational purposes
only.  Specific diagnoses and therapies must come from your personal physician.