Heart Murmurs – Followup

Transcript

Once you have been discovered to have a heart murmur, it’s important to know how often you should have follow-up. How often should you actually see your doctor? Well, depending on how bad the murmur is, it’ll dictate whether you should be seen on a monthly interval or every six months or every year. For example, if you are a patient that has no symptoms and your murmur is benign or very mild, you can get by seeing the doctor once a year. We call this surveillance. If your murmur is more in the moderate range and you have milder symptoms, it may be wise to see your cardiologist every six months. Why? So we can study the effects of the murmur on the heart, gather data and come up with treatment plans so that the murmur is prevented from causing complications in the future. If your murmur is severe and you have symptoms at rest, and if the medications are not working, you may need to see your doctor more frequently. For example, on a monthly basis, in anticipation of having a procedure done. It’s important to keep close communication with your doctor, determine the treatment options and to prevent your murmur from becoming a problem.