Final answer:
The most common cause of a systolic murmur heard near the aortic area is aortic stenosis, characterized by the turbulent blood flow caused by the narrowing of the aortic valve during the heart's contraction phase.
Step-by-step explanation:
Heart murmurs are sounds produced by the turbulent flow of blood, often due to abnormalities in the heart's anatomy or function. A systolic murmur heard near the aortic area is typically caused by either aortic stenosis or aortic regurgitation. Aortic stenosis refers to a narrowing of the aortic valve opening, which can obstruct blood flow from the left ventricle to the aorta, while aortic regurgitation involves the leaking of the aortic valve, allowing blood to flow back into the left ventricle from the aorta. These conditions are both detectable through auscultation using a stethoscope and often cause a distinctive murmur.
Aortic stenosis is the most common cause of a systolic murmur heard near the aortic and is characterized by the sound created during the phase of the heartbeat when the heart muscle contracts and pumps blood out of the chambers. On the other hand, conditions like mitral valve prolapse and tricuspid regurgitation, which affect other valves of the heart, would typically create murmurs heard in other regions of the chest, not specifically near the aortic area.
It's worth noting that murmurs are graded on a scale of 1 to 6, with grade 1 being barely audible and grade 6 being very audible. Specialized electronic stethoscopes, like phonocardiograms or auscultograms, can be used to record these murmurs for further analysis.