Auscultation versus echocardiography in a healthy population with precordial murmur

We performed a blinded study of the use screening auscultation versus echocardiography, with an abnormal murmur defined using published guidelines, in young healthy patients with precordial murmurs. An innocent murmur on examination was common, even in our referral population, and was able to exclude serious cardiac pathology, whereas an abnormal murmur was associated with a significant incidence of abnormal findings on echocardiography.