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Dr. Andrew Rynne
MD
Dr. Andrew Rynne

Family Physician

Exp 50 years

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My 2 Year Old Son Has Heart Murmur

I just found out my 2 year old has a heart murmur. What can I expect in the near future? I just took my 2 year old son for his checkup and the doctor said he may have a heart murmur. I am taking him for tests right away. I am wondering if anyone out there can fill me in on what the tests are like , what are the different outcomes of the tests , and what they do for each outcome. Im scared and I dont want any surprizes.
posted on Sat, 19 Dec 2009
Twitter Sat, 19 Dec 2009 Answered on
Twitter Fri, 2 Apr 2010 Last reviewed on
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's  Response
First of all a heart murmur is simply an extra sound that the doctor hears when he listens to the chest with his stethoscope. Most heart murmurs are innocent sounds and mean absolutely nothing. Occasionally, (about 1 out of 1000) a heart murmur can be because there is a valve in the heart that is either leaking or stiff or there can be a heart murmur because there is a hole between the heart chambers that isn't supposed to be there. For a two year old the easiest way to find out if this is an innocent murmur or not is to have a test called an echocardiogram. An echocardiogram is simply an ultrasound of the heart. It is a harmless pain free test that enables one to visualize all the heart valves, heart chambers, heart muscle and measure the blood flow through the heart chambers and valves. It can take anywhere from a half hour to one hour to perform. Occasionally two year olds have a hard time sitting still for the test so sedation may be a possibility. It is important to have the echocardiogram done at a lab that does a lot of kids as they have the experience to rule out congenital heart defects plus they would be used to imaging and dealing with scared children. Again, most murmurs, 99%, are innocent and do not mean there is a heart problem. If your child has normal exercise tolerance, is growing and gaining weight normally and has never been blue the odds are high that the murmur is innocent or if there is a problem it is most likely a minor one and unlikely that it would be a serious life threatening one. Hope that helps.
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alicia's  Response

they said that my 2 year old has a heart murmur nad he gets tired when he runs aronud can there be somthing wrong with him
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My 2 Year Old Son Has Heart Murmur

First of all a heart murmur is simply an extra sound that the doctor hears when he listens to the chest with his stethoscope. Most heart murmurs are innocent sounds and mean absolutely nothing. Occasionally, (about 1 out of 1000) a heart murmur can be because there is a valve in the heart that is either leaking or stiff or there can be a heart murmur because there is a hole between the heart chambers that isn t supposed to be there. For a two year old the easiest way to find out if this is an innocent murmur or not is to have a test called an echocardiogram. An echocardiogram is simply an ultrasound of the heart. It is a harmless pain free test that enables one to visualize all the heart valves, heart chambers, heart muscle and measure the blood flow through the heart chambers and valves. It can take anywhere from a half hour to one hour to perform. Occasionally two year olds have a hard time sitting still for the test so sedation may be a possibility. It is important to have the echocardiogram done at a lab that does a lot of kids as they have the experience to rule out congenital heart defects plus they would be used to imaging and dealing with scared children. Again, most murmurs, 99%, are innocent and do not mean there is a heart problem. If your child has normal exercise tolerance, is growing and gaining weight normally and has never been blue the odds are high that the murmur is innocent or if there is a problem it is most likely a minor one and unlikely that it would be a serious life threatening one. Hope that helps.