The assessment of a child for the presence or absence of heart disease can be done with the help of some guidelines suggested by nadas and are called "nadas criteria" . the criteria are divided into major and minor criteria. Presence of one major and two minor criteria are essential for indicating the presence of heart disease.
The major criteria are :
1. systolic murmur grade 3 or more specially with a thrill
2. diastolic murmur
3. cyanosis
4. congestive cardiac failure
The minor criteria are :
1. systolic murmur less than grade 3 in intensity
2. abnormal second heart sound ( S2)
3. abnormal ECG
4. abnormal X-ray
5. abnormal blood pressure