Which murmur may be heard in left-sided heart failure due to mitral regurgitation?

Which murmur may be heard in left-sided heart failure due to mitral regurgitation?

• A. Systolic murmur due to mitral regurgitation
• B. Continuous murmur
• C. Early diastolic murmur
• D. No murmur

Answer: (A)

In mitral regurgitation, blood leaks from the left ventricle back into the left atrium during systole, so the audible finding is a systolic murmur. This holosystolic murmur is classically best heard at the cardiac apex and often radiates to the left axilla. A continuous murmur would suggest conditions like a patent ductus arteriosus or an arteriovenous fistula, not MR. An early diastolic murmur points to regurgitation across a different valve (such as aortic or pulmonic) or other diastolic flow abnormalities. No murmur would not fit the usual auscultatory pattern of MR. So a systolic murmur due to mitral regurgitation best explains the finding.

In mitral regurgitation, blood leaks from the left ventricle back into the left atrium during systole, so the audible finding is a systolic murmur. This holosystolic murmur is classically best heard at the cardiac apex and often radiates to the left axilla. A continuous murmur would suggest conditions like a patent ductus arteriosus or an arteriovenous fistula, not MR. An early diastolic murmur points to regurgitation across a different valve (such as aortic or pulmonic) or other diastolic flow abnormalities. No murmur would not fit the usual auscultatory pattern of MR. So a systolic murmur due to mitral regurgitation best explains the finding.