Explaining a heart murmur to a family — OSCE

A four-year-old boy sits with his parents in the outpatient clinic. His general practitioner heard a heart murmur at a routine check and referred him for reassurance. He is thriving, fully active and asymptomatic. Your examination shows a soft, short, vibratory systolic murmur at the lower left sternal edge that softens when he sits forward, with normal heart sounds, normal pulses, a normal four-limb blood pressure and a normal oxygen saturation. His parents are frightened by the word murmur, worried that something has been missed, and have read about congenital heart disease and surgery online. Counsel them.