1.06 Systolic Heart Murmurs

Cardiovacular system reveiw for the USMLE Step 1 exam.

• Heart murmurs occur when blood flow is turbulent in the heart, producing a whooshing or swishing sound
• 4 different sounding systolic murmurs discussed: Ventricular septal defect, patent ductus arteriosus, aortic stenosis, and mitral/tricuspid regurgitation
• Patent ductus arteriosus is a machine-like murmur that is constant (heard during systole and diastole)
  • Patent ductus arteriosus: "People who constantly PDA deserve to be thrown in a machine"
• Ventricular septal defect produces a harsh holosystolic murmur (only heard during systole)
  • Ventricular septal defect: "Holy cow, its harsh being born with a VSD"
• Aortic stenosis produces a crescendo-decrescendo systolic ejection murmur (heard during systole)
  • Aortic stenosis: "ASS CD (insert your least favorite band here, I'll say Nickelback)"
• Mitral and tricuspid regurgitation produces a holosystolic high pitched "blowing" murmur (heard during systole)
  • Mitral and tricuspid regurgitation: "It sucks to climb Mt regurgitation. Climbing Mt regurgitation blows."
• The location and cause of the murmur can indicate whether it is mitral or tricuspid regurgitation