AUSCULTATION OF THE HEART IN INFANTS AND CHILDREN

We have attempted to describe the auscultatory features of a variety of physiologic and pathologic states of infancy and childhood. The phonocardiogram has been used for illustrative purposes and, indeed, often proves invaluable in the demonstration of the subtleties of cardiovascular sounds. It is our hope, however, that this review will be of some use to the physician whose sole sound analyzing instrument is his brain, for we believe that the key to successful auscultation is an understanding of basic cardiac physiology and pathophysiology and that in a great majority of cases the configuration of sounds and murmurs on the phonocardiogram is fully predictable on the basis of the clinical examination.