The diagnosis of innocent murmurs in childhood

Innocent murmurs are common in childhood. They require accurate diagnosis to avoid unnecessary anxiety and/or restrictions. With this in mind, we studied prospectively children diagnosed by a paediatric cardiologist as having innocent murmurs to review the necessity of investigations in excluding organic abnormalities. We included 63 children in the study. The majority had the so-called Still's, or musical / vibratory murmur. None had abnormal investigations, suggesting that such investigations are largely suger-fluous for the purpose of diagnosis in those patients with innocent murmurs seen by a paediatric cardiologist. They are often done, nonetheless, as part of the assessment and/or expectations of the parent or the referring physician.