Do patients with murmurs or mitral valve prolapse still require coverage?
Heart murmurs are caused by a large number of conditions. Some can be due to mitral valve prolapse(MVP). The 2007 AHA Infective Endocarditis Guidelines specifically no longer recommend that patients with MVP be premedicated, whether or not they have regurgitation or thickened valve leaflets, nor does it recommend premedicating for heart murmurs. The report says, “MVP is the most common underlying condition that predisposes to acquisition of [infective endocarditis] IE in the Western world; however the absolute incidence of IE is extremely low for the entire population with MVP, and is not usually associated with a grave outcome. Thus, IE prophylaxis is no longer recommended (AHA underlining) for this group.
