Medical Questions » Heart Questions » Question No. 505
| Question: | I am desperately worried, because my doctor says that my daughter has a heart murmur. He won' t treat it and says I shouldn' t worry, but I can' t help it. How significant is a heart murmur in a 5 year old child? |
| Answer: | It depends on many factors! Heart murmurs can vary from the totally innocuous to the deadly serious. A general practitioner will make a decision on whether or not a murmur is serious on the appearance of the child (colour, weight, activity level etc.), the position of the sound in relation to the other heart sounds heard through the stethoscope, the loudness of the sound, the size of the heart and the position on the chest where the murmur is most easily heard. Using diis information, it is often possible to tell which part of the heart is responsible for the murmur, and how serious the problem is likely to become.
Many children have heart murmurs that are quite innocent, and never cause any problem. There may even be a tiny hole in one part of the heart, but many of these close over as the child matures. If there is any doubt about the severity of the problem, your GP will refer you to a heart specialist (cardiologist) who will undertake more specialised ultrasound, X-ray, pathology and other investigations to find out the exact diagnosis.
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