What's the difference between a heart murmur and mitral valve prolapse (MVP)? I always though it was the same thing, but today I was talking to my doctor and she said that I have a heart murmur but it's not mitral valve prolapse.
From what I read a murmur is a whooshing sound that is either from regurgitation, stenosis, or innocent (healthy heart). It seems that the next step would be an echo to find the cause, but I am not a dr. There is good info on Medline's dictionary under heart murmur, here is the link: http://www.nlm.nih.gov/medlineplus/ency/article/003266.htm
Hi Georgette,
A heart mumur may or may not be serious, MVP is serious and requires intervention. Both conditions relate to the left ventricle, left atrium, and the mitral valve. Many people have some regurg throughout their lives and the doc will watch for change if any. Usually there are no symptoms.
If the regurgitation is chronic, moderate to severe, there will be an enlargement of the left ventricle (pumping chamber) and left atrium (blood rec'd from lungs). This enlargement will be to compensate for less blood output but the compensation can't continue as a consequence there will be an enlargement and distortion of the valve opening, the leaflets that should close properly will fail as well as the muscle attachments (hinges). As MR worsens the attachments will no longer elongate but will finally rupture leading to increased MR and prolapsed leaflets.
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MVP isn't always serious and most often doesn't require intervention (most people don't go on to needing surgery), but needs to be followed. I have MVP w/MR and TR and mine isn't serious.
I have MVP and basically I go in to see the cardiologist every 6 months and we test and keep an eye on it. I found out about it 3 years ago and since my situation has actually improved through weight loss and a healthy diet so hopefully I'll never need intervention.
My own experience is heart murmur, which I was born with, is a leak in a valve. It can be progressive to a point of replace at some time. MVP is just as serious, but a different major problem. You need to talk with your Cardio to get a better understand of your heart condition and current status. Heart murmur are cause in different ways, genetic, infection, rheumatic fever. Please talk with your cardio and reafirm your present condition and staus.
You can check this link out to get it straight from Cleveland Clinic's cardios, use their search option: http://www.*******.org/perl6/cardio/wwwboard.html Hmmm, ok, it isn't allowing the link, sorry. Do a search on cardio forums to find it is all I can think. Why wouldn't they allow a link for educational purposes?
A heart murmur is an irregular heartbeat that can be caused by many things: a defective valve, an absent valve/chamber, etc. I'm not an expert on mitral valve prolapse, but I think it has something to do with the mitral valve being unable to pump the blood incorrectly. What I do know is that the mitral valve (or bicuspid valve) is very crucial in the heart because it delivers the blood to the aorta, which in turns takes oxygenated blood to the body. If there's a faulty mitral valve, the body doesn't get enough oxygen, and angina may ensue. I also know that MVP is sometimes more serious than a murmur, but as far as what MVP ACTUALLY is, I don't know the specifics...Also, if you have either one of these conditions, definitely go to a cardiologist regularly so he/she can make note of significant changes.
-GatsbyLuvr1920-
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Last edited by GatsbyLuvr1920; 07-11-2005 at 02:50 PM.
through out my life i was told on occassion that i had a heart murmer but was never told why or it was never indicated to be a concern. The last 5 years i have had increasingly bad health and just recently they found a hole in my heart (ASD) which i am now having repaired.
I have a very mild mitral valve prolapse, but no murmur. The doc said that the valve still works perfectly, so this probably means I don't have regurgitation?
I have mild MVP according to several echos, but according to a TEE it is just buckling (each echo was read by a different cardio). With all of them, even tho it's just mild, I have regurgitation. I have tricuspid regurg, too. I don't have a murmur, either.
What my doc described as prolapse sounds like the "buckling" you mentioned... He said it went in the "wrong" direction, against the direction of the blood flow. But when he said the valve still works well, I presumed he meant that it still closed. If I had regurgitation, wouldn't he have said anything about antibiotics when having dental surgery etc? Or does it have to be a bad case of regurgitation for that?
It seems that some won't mention or recommend antibiotics, while others do. My cardio didn't say antibiotics until one echo erroneously said myxomatous valve, but after the TEE he said I didn't need them. However, his partner, who isn't an ep, but a reg (possibly interventional) cardio said I did. My dentist said as long as I am with him I will have to take the antibiotics and I have other drs. who don't care that my cardio said I didn't need them, they see MVP and regurg and that's all they need. According to the AHA it says regurgitation. Look up bacterial endocarditis on the AHA website. Prolapse goes the wrong way, too (so to speak), it billows backwards as if opening and that is how the regurg happens.
I hope that helps some.
I have a heart murmur that is caused from a hole in my heart and as a result of the hole in my heart, i have slight regurgitation of all my valves but need a repair of my tricuspid valve. I am having the hole and valve repaired in a couple of weeks. They should monitor your heart murmur and valve leakage to be aware of any further progress.
born2 is right. They should monitor a murmur and/or regurg. A murmur can be monitored just by listening with a stethoscope, altho you should have an echo at time of discovery (and maybe later down the line). Regurg should be monitored by follow up echos.
Mitral valve prolapse is usually a very benign condition, rarely serious. It is recommended that you take prophylactic antibiotics prior to dental work and some types of surgery because there is a slightly increased risk of infection around the valve. However, some cardiologists now feel that this is unnecessary. I've had MVP since 30 y.o, (now 51)am very active, do 50-100 mile bike rides, and have never needed any kind of intervention. I had an echo when diagnosed, but none since. It concerns me to see the word being put out that this is a serious heart condition because I have known of people who have been so frightened of the dx that they have made themselves 'cardiac cripples' needlessly.
Like ladyshutterbug said, MVP is rarely serious. It's basically a benign condition that many cardiologists aren't even recognizing as a disorder anymore.
May I ask, ladyshutterbug, and anyone else, if you had any symptoms when diagnosed with MVP.? I went in for a regular yearly gyn visit and was told by a nurses practitioner that I had a murmur. Back in June I was told this by another practitioner who said it was benign. This one, however, did an EKG and that came back uncertain so she made an appt. for me to have an echo tomorrow. She asked me about shortness of breath, fatigue, chest pain, all of which I don't have. But now that I know about all this, I swear I think I have all the symptoms! The morning of my visit I had coffee and a few squirts of Afrin nose spray (one of my bad habits) and I'm wondering if that may have affected my EKG. I'm scared to death and have been on the internet all weekend trying to convince myself that I'm ok. I thank anyone for any opinions or advice on my situation!
Yes, greeneyes, I was having some symptoms at that time-- some palpitations, shortness of breath, chest pain. They weren't constant, but were worse at the time of diagnosis. The doctor thought the c hest pain was musculoskeletal, although I had no idea what would have caused it. They did an echo then and said that I had MVP. I had been told for years that I had a 'benign murmur.' Sometimes they could hear it and sometimes not. So, I'm sure I'd probably had it at least ten years prior to dx, during which time I had dental w/o antibiotics with no problems. Caffeine and sudafed(I think it is in Afrin) can increase symtpms but don't really do any harm. I used to be more sensitive to them. Now a cup or two of coffee doesn't bother me at all. In fact, not much of anything does. So, MVP is something I pay very little attention to. I know some people do have more severe symptoms, and a rare few even have serious pro lems, but it is not the norm. Try to relax and not worry so much(and anxiety is one of th things that will definitely increase the symptoms!)
