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What is a heart murmur?

A heart murmur is a sound made by blood moving through the heart's chambers or valves. Murmurs range from quite faint to very loud.

There are two main types of heart murmurs: innocent (harmless) and abnormal. Most cases of heart murmurs in children are innocent heart murmurs that are not caused by a heart problem.

Most abnormal murmurs in children are due to a congenital heart defect or a vascular anomaly.

Symptoms & Causes

What causes heart murmurs?

Heart murmurs may be caused by a number of conditions related to turbulent flow or acceleration of blood in the heart, including:

Diagnosis & Treatments

How are heart murmurs diagnosed?

Your child’s doctor will evaluate your child’s murmur based on its pitch, character, location, loudness, and duration. Your pediatrician will decide if your child needs to be seen by a cardiologist. The most important thing early on is to diagnose the cause of the murmur.

Murmurs related to a congenital heart defect or other problem involving the heart will be heard the loudest in the area of the chest where the problem occurs.

How are heart murmurs treated?

Most heart murmurs in children are benign and don’t need treatment or follow up. If your child has an abnormal heart murmur that’s caused by another heart condition, he or she may need treatment for that condition.

How we care for heart murmurs

If your child has a heart murmur caused by a heart condition, the Boston Children’s Hospital Benderson Family Heart Center has one of the world’s largest teams of highly trained pediatric cardiologists and pediatric cardiac surgeons, including special expertise across dozens of programs and services.

Our team treats a full spectrum of cardiac disorders, including the rarest and most complex congenital heart defects.

Practitioners Who Specialize In This Condition (5)