Heart Murmurs and Gallop Sounds

Heart murmurs and gallop sounds are abnormal heart sounds that can be heard during auscultation, or listening to the heart with a stethoscope. A good understanding of normal heart sounds is the first step in telling normal sounds apart from abnormal ones. Murmurs usually have a swishing quality and point to turbulent blood f...

Having a fundamental understanding of normal and abnormal heart sounds is the first step toward distinguishing between them. Murmurs and gallops present two broad categories of abnormal heart sounds. Murmurs are sounds that represent turbulent and abnormal blood flow across a heart valve. On the other hand, gallops refer to the occurrence of mor...