Published online: 2019-12-03 THIEME Clinical Rounds 165 Systolic Murmurs Maddury Jyotsna1 1Department of Cardiology, Nizam's Institute of Medical Sciences, Address for correspondence M. Jyotsna, MD, DM, FACC, FESC, Punjagutta, Hyderabad, Telangana, India FICC, Department of Cardiology, Nizam's Institute of Medical Sciences, Punjagutta, Hyderabad, Telangana 500082, India (e-mail:
[email protected]). Ind J Car Dis Wom 2019;4:165–174 Murmur is the vibration of heart components or great ves- The areas to be auscultated other than above mentioned sels.1 Systolic murmurs are those murmurs that can be heard classical five areas are as follows: between S1 and S2. 1. The right parasternal region, 2. The right and left the base of the neck, Basics of Murmur 3. The right and left carotid arteries, 4. The left axilla, The turbulent flow generates murmurs, but the acoustic 5. The interscapular area. force generated by the turbulence is not sufficient to produce an audible sound on the chest wall.2 Brun proposed the con- cept of vortex shedding for the mechanism of generation of Characteristics of the Systolic Murmur the murmurs. Vortices are produced from the diseased valves or great vessels. These vertices can be produced by increased 1. Intensity (loudness)—Intensity of the systolic murmur flow with normal valves or great vessels. These vortices can is graded into six grades. Grade 1 refers to a murmur so produce sustained vibrations to generate audible murmur on faint that it can be heard only with special effort. A grade 2 the chest wall. murmur is faint but is immediately audible.