What Are the Different Types of Heart Murmurs?
All heart murmurs are analyzed for pitch, loudness, and duration. They are also graded, according to their intensity (on a scale of one to six with one being very faint and six being very loud).
Types of murmurs include:
- Systolic murmur - occurs during a heart muscle contraction. Systolic murmurs are divided into ejection murmurs (due to blood flow through a narrowed vessel or irregular valve) and regurgitant murmurs.
- Diastolic murmur - occurs during heart muscle relaxation between beats. Diastolic murmurs are due to a narrowing (stenosis) of the mitral or tricuspid valves, or regurgitation of the aortic or pulmonary valves.
- Continuous murmur - occurs throughout the cardiac cycle.
