During a physical exam, your doctor listens to your heart with a stethoscope.

The doctor listens to your heart at different places on your chest to hear the sounds your heart valves make as blood travels through your heart. Normally, the heart beat has two sounds – lub-dub. The first sound is heard as the mitral and tricuspid valves close. The second heart sound is the aortic and pulmonic valves snapping shut.

A heart murmur is a swishing sound heard when there is turbulent or abnormal blood flow across the heart valve.

• Other causes of heart murmurs include:
• Hypertrophic cardiomyopathy
• Septal defect

• Functional causes for heart murmurs

  Murmurs can be caused by increased blood flow across the valve related to other medical conditions without valvular heart disease, such as:

• Anemia
• Hyperthyroidism

• Childhood murmurs
• Pregnancy

It is important to have regular physical exams to detect any abnormal heart sounds. If a murmur is heard, further evaluation will be required to determine why the murmur is present, which valve is involved, and the severity of the problem.

If the murmur is due to a heart valve problem:

• Follow-up with a cardiologist will be required to evaluate the progression of the valve disease.
• Most people who have a heart murmur require measures to prevent valve infection. These include:
  • Tell all your doctors and dentist you have valve disease
  • Call your doctor if you have symptoms of an infection
  • Take good care of your teeth and gums
  • Take antibiotics before you undergo any procedure that may cause bleeding
  • A wallet card may be obtained from the American Heart Association with specific antibiotic guidelines. Call your local American Heart Association office or nationally, 1-800-AHA-USA1 or go to http://www.americanheart.org/.*