
One of the more serious congenital problems that causes heart murmurs is called Tetralogy of Fallot. These can be benign and never cause symptoms, or they can be severe malformations that require surgery or even a heart transplant. Murmurs, especially in children, may be caused by congenital heart malformations. Problems with these parts of your heart may lead to unusual sounds that your doctor can detect by listening to your heart with a stethoscope or by performing an echocardiogram test. Your pericardial sac surrounds your heart and protects it.

Valves are located between these chambers. The two upper chambers are called the atria, and the two lower chambers are called the ventricles. What are the causes of heart murmurs and other sounds? A rubbing sound is usually caused by an infection in your pericardium (a sac that surrounds your heart) due to a virus, bacteria, or fungus. Rubbing sounds may be heard in people with certain kinds of infections. This can cause some regurgitation of blood into your left atrium. This could indicate a mitral valve prolapse, when one or both flaps of your mitral valve are too long. Other soundsĬlicks or short, high-pitched sounds may also be heard during your regular heartbeat. This is called a “summation gallop,” which can occur when your heart is beating very fast. You can also have both an S3 and an S4 sound. It’s always a sign of disease, likely the failure of the left ventricle of your heart. An S4 gallop is an extra sound before the S1 systole “lub” sound.In older adults, it may indicate heart disease. In young athletes or pregnant women, it’s likely to be harmless. An S3 gallop or “third heart sound” is a sound that occurs after the diastole S2 “dub” sound.Other heart sounds include a “galloping” rhythm, which involves additional heart sounds, S3 and S4: Murmurs are also categorized as occurring during either the first sound (S1), as systole murmurs, or during the second sound (S2), as diastole murmurs.

The scale for grading runs from 1 to 6, where one is very faint and six is very loud - so loud that it may not need a stethoscope to be heard. Murmurs are graded depending on how loud the sound is. If a valve has become too narrow or becomes stiff, this is known as stenosis. If a valve doesn’t close tightly and some blood leaks backward, this is called regurgitation. It may need to be corrected with surgery.Īn abnormal murmur in adults is usually caused by problems with the valves that separate the chambers of your heart. In adults, innocent heart murmur may be caused by physical activity, fever, or pregnancy.Īn abnormal murmur in a child is due to congenital heart malformations, which means they’re present at birth. It’s caused by the sound of blood moving normally through the heart. A murmur is a blowing, whooshing, or rasping sound that occurs during your heartbeat.Īn innocent murmur can be found in children and adults. The most common abnormal heart sound is a heart murmur.


If there are problems in your heart, there may be additional or abnormal sounds. These sounds are caused by the closing of valves inside your heart. What are the types of heart murmurs and other abnormal sounds?Ī normal heartbeat has two sounds, a lub (sometimes called S1) and a dub (S2).
