Final answer:
A high-pitched, blowing, systolic heart murmur under the left nipple likely indicates turbulent blood flow due to a heart valve condition. Further evaluation with tools like echocardiograms is necessary to diagnose the exact cause of the murmur, considering that heart murmurs are graded on their intensity and auscultation may be enhanced with deep breathing.
Step-by-step explanation:
The heart murmur described by the student is likely to be caused by turbulent blood flow due to a heart valve condition. This type of murmur, being high-pitched, blowing, and heard during the systolic phase of the heart cycle, could be indicative of a mitral valve prolapse, mitral regurgitation, or aortic stenosis. Without prior history of a murmur, a newly detected systolic murmur near the left nipple is of particular concern and warrants further investigation.
Heart murmurs are graded on their intensity from 1 to 6, and the location where the murmur is best heard can provide clues as to which valve may be affected. Moreover, when auscultating the heart, clinicians may request that the patient breathe deeply to enhance the sound of murmurs, which helps in their detection and characterization.
Diagnostic tools such as phonocardiograms, auscultograms, and ultrasounds, particularly echocardiograms, are useful in analyzing these abnormal heart sounds to determine their cause. Given this new finding of a heart murmur in a person with no known history of cardiac issues, a referral to a cardiologist for further evaluation would be prudent.