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The recent PFO posts started me off on a tangent thinking about heart murmurs. When I was an infant, my parents were told I had a minor heart murmur. It has apparently caused me no problems whatsoever, and in fact it was entirely forgotton until I was 13 or so and being prepped for surgery (totally unrelated -- it was to repair a thumb I'd cut pretty badly). That was the only time I can remember anybody even noticing it. So, to my questions... Is there any relationship between PFOs and heart murmors? Does having one suggest a greater chance of having the other? Is an asymptomatic heart murmor as I've described any cause for concern or caution as it relates to diving? When I was a kid the doc described a heart murmor as a "slight leak in a valve" that allowed a fraction of the blood to flow backward on a given heartbeat, but that that same blood would just go on through the valve the next time and a different fraction would get left behind, and so on. From recent reading, however, I gather that this is a bit of an oversimplification and that there can be more than one possible cause. If all the blood still follows the normal route through the circulatory system I don't see how it could influence DCS, but I'm hoping someone here will have a better understanding and be able to confirm that. - Todd
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