a heart murmur is not a diagnosis - it is an unusual sounds heard through a stethoscope when a medical professional listens to your heart.
The murder could be caused by several things. Just as a for instance, many women in early pregnancy develop a heart murmur which then, well, disappears,
I’m assuming your doctor wants to rule out anything really important, hence the scan.
My murmur (found when I was a year to two younger than you) was from mitral valve prolapse and mild/moderate regurgitation.
It progressed very slowly to severe, and then to severe with LVH. This progression took 20 years, during which I had a yearly echo with the odd MRI sprinkled in. I never did develop any symptoms, and was never put under any exercise or activity restrictions.
The LVH can cause other problems, though, so I had surgery a few months ago to repair my mitral valve and replace my aortic valve. I'm now 60.
For the mitral valve, repair is preferred (if possible) as it has better long-term outcomes. Both the surgeons I talked to recommended doing that via open heart surgery, but there are less-invasive ways. By the time you need it the less invasive methods might be the norm.
Valve replacements can be done one-at-a-time with a minimally invasive procedure (such as TAVI, for aortic valves).
Since I needed both mitral valve repair and aortic valve replacement, it was easier/less-risky to do them both in the one go with open heart surgery.
No, no blood tests. My cardiologist had a BNP test run once or twice (which would indicate the heart is growing to compensate for the leak), but in the end my LVH was picked up on the echo first.
I went for a routine check-up as a reasonably active 62 year old. Anyone ever tell you you have a heart murmur says GP, no says I. Turns out mine was severe and I had OHS to repair a mitral valve, that was 5 years ago. I had no symptoms so by the time my murmur was recognised I needed surgery. Diagnosis was confirmed by Echo CG and Electrical CG along with x-rays and blood test. I understand if its caught early then drugs may keep surgery at bay, 5 years later I'm alive and kicking and have been told that my heart is as good as it should be for someone my age ie the surgery restored my heart. Drugs wise I am on statins.
Now you have been diagnosed, you will be monitored and taken care of you'll see the NHS at its magnificent best, first class care. Best of luck
Thank you for your reply. My blood tests were fine, the ecg was fine, just waiting to have the echo gram. I’d have assumed if there was a bigger problem, it would have been mentioned. Still, can’t help wondering.
My murmur is caused by my leaky and narrow aortic valve I'm not saying that's what the problem is. The scans and tests will see what's causing it hope your not waiting too long for a diagnosis x
You can also get benign murmurs that don’t have any structural reason. I have a systolic murmur but the echocardiogram / ultrasound was normal so it was put down to just having ‘turbulent flow’ and due to being slim it is noisier than someone with more padding! Many people have benign murmurs so it doesn’t necessarily mean anything is wrong ☺️
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