|  | Family Health | Childrens Health

Heart Murmur & Mitral Valve Problem in Children

Mitral valve prolapse is a very common heart condition, and while it may cause symptoms that can be frightening such as chest pains, it is rarely serious. In fact, many times the problem is not discovered until adulthood because there are no noticeable symptoms. One of the ways MVP can be detected is when it causes a murmur, or an extra click in the normal heartbeat, or a whooshing sound when listening with a stethoscope.

  1. Function

    • The mitral valve is located between the left ventricle and left atrium of the heart and helps control the blood flow between them. Leaflets, which function as sort of swinging doors, swing shut to prevent a backflow of blood into the left ventricle. When the leaflets don't shut properly, mitral regurgitation, or backflow of blood, occurs. Usually this doesn't cause a problem, but if there is a significant leakage, a murmur will be heard.

    Significance

    • In most cases, mitral valve prolapse and heart murmurs will not require any treatment, and will cause few, if any, symptoms. For the small number of children who do require treatment, it usually consists of medication that will be needed to remedy the symptoms. Rarely, surgery might be needed. So for most cases, mitral valve prolapse and heart murmurs will not cause any real difficulties or impact a child's life in a significant way.

    Identification

    • Mitral valve prolapse is usually detected when a murmur is heard during a physical exam when the doctor is listening to the heart with a stethoscope. However, the murmur from a mitral valve prolapse will not always be present, and can be missed easily during an exam. If the child is having chest pains or other symptoms, an echocardiogram may be done to check the heart. This test uses sound waves to create a picture of your child's heart. Other tests that might be done include a chest x-ray, and an EKG which records the heart's electrical activity.

    Effects

    • Symptoms of MVP include heart murmurs, heart palpitations, shortness of breath, dizziness, cough, fatigue, anxiety, migraines, and chest pain. However, most the time no symptoms will be noticed, except for the murmur on examination. Complications from mitral valve prolapse include arrhythmias, or abnormal heart rhythms, and infections of the mitral valve, or infective endocarditis. Both of these complications are treatable, and unlikely to occur in most patients.

    Treatment

    • Mitral valve prolapse and heart murmurs rarely cause serious enough symptoms to require treatment, but if treatment is required, usually it is medication to help control how hard the heart beats, and if arrhythmia is a problem, medication will be prescribed to help control the heart's rhythm. Very rarely will surgery be indicated for a child with mitral valve prolapse and heart murmurs, to repair a mitral valve that is leaking very badly.

Childrens Health - Related Articles