Childhood cardiac murmurs: innocent or not?

Cardiac murmurs may be detected in as many as half of the pediatric patients in an office practice. Careful history taking and clinical cardiovascular system examination will usually separate those patients who warrant further investigations from those who do not. Tips are provided on how to examine various age groups to elicit the most information. Full disclosure of the cardiac findings should be made to the family at the time, to prevent conflicts at a later date.