Assessing heart murmurs in babies

Clinical skill, a stethoscope and a heart scan (echo) is still the gold standard for assessing a heart murmur in a baby or child. .

Usually innocent but review is needed

#Innocentmurmurs are very common in babies and children, and often come and go throughout childhood. Most disappear by adolescence and require no treatment. Unfortunately some heart murmurs in babies and children they are the sign of a more serious heart condition that needs management.

Getting the most accurate diagnosis

An experienced #paediatriccardiologist can usually distinguish an innocent from an abnormal murmur just by listening for specific acoustic characteristics. An #echocardiogram (or heart scan) is the gold-standard for assessment as it allows the paediatric cardiologist to formally look at the heart structure, anatomy and function in detail.