Systolic and diastolic murmurs (mnemonic)

Last revised by Raymond Chieng on 26 Dec 2022

Citation, DOI, disclosures and article data

Citation:

Faugas W, Chieng R, Jones J, Systolic and diastolic murmurs (mnemonic). Reference article, Radiopaedia.org (Accessed on 30 May 2024) https://doi.org/10.53347/rID-158341

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.53347/rID-158341

Permalink:

https://radiopaedia.org/articles/158341

rID:

158341

Article created:

13 Dec 2022, Woodger G. Faugas ◉

Disclosures:

At the time the article was created Woodger G. Faugas had no financial relationships to ineligible companies to disclose.

View Woodger G. Faugas's current disclosures

Last revised:

26 Dec 2022, Raymond Chieng ◉

Disclosures:

At the time the article was last revised Raymond Chieng had no financial relationships to ineligible companies to disclose.

View Raymond Chieng's current disclosures

Revisions:

4 times, by 3 contributors - see full revision history and disclosures

Systems:

Cardiac

Sections:

Mnemonics

A mnemonic helpful for remembering whether a valve disorder manifests as a systolic or diastolic murmur is the following:

AP-ic DSI's SD Makes Tablets Download Swiftly

Mnemonic

During systole, blood flow past the heart's semilunar valves as the ventricles contract.^1,2 During diastole, the opposite ones occur, as the ventricles relax and refill itself with venous return.³ Difference between systolic murmur and diastolic counterpart is that former is due to flow turbulence, whereas the latter is due to flow regurgitation.^4,5

The mnemonics listed below colloquially forms the expression "an epic DSI's SD card Makes Tablets Download Swiftly," with "epic" corresponds to its phonetic equivalent, "AP" representing the terms "aortic" and "pulmonic." Meanwhile "DSI" is refers to a handheld gaming console "Nintendo DSi".

A: aortic

P: pulmonic

D: disorder

S: stenosis

I: insufficiency

S: systolic

D: diastolic

M: mitral

T: tricuspid

D: diastolic

S: systolic

These words are then fitted into a 3x3 or 9-cell, table. The first column can be filled from above downwards as "disorder", "stenosis," and "insufficiency." In the second column, "aortic/pulmonic," "systolic" and "diastolic" can fill up respective rows from above downwards. In the third column, "mitral/tricuspid", "diastolic" and "systolic" can be written from first to third rows respectively.

Referring from the table, aortic/pulmonic stenosis would produce systolic murmurs. Aortic/pulmonic insufficiency would produce diastolic murmurs. Mitral/tricuspid stenosis would produce diastolic murmur while mitral/tricuspid insufficiency would produce systolic murmur.