What exactly is a heart murmur and how are they caused?
Many people have heart murmurs, they are often quite benign and usually do not represent pathology. It’s simply a noise which can be produced by turbulent blood flow within the heart and great vessels. Most are caused by normal variations in the structure of the heart and cause no problems. It always needs investigating because occasionally it can represent pathology and be caused by problems with the heart valves or holes between the pumping chambers. Most are what we call ‘innocent murmurs’ An innocent murmur basically means that even though there may be an abnormality within the heart causing the murmur, unless it’s effecting the hearts performance, it is quite normal and no action needs to be taken. Most innocent murmurs occur because blood is being pumped faster than normal or usual. Some murmurs are only audible under certain conditions, for example if you have a high fever, or a fast heart rate.
