systolic click

systolic click

Etymology: Gk, systole, contraction; Fr, cliqueter, to click

a sharp, clicking sound heard in mid- or late systole and believed to originate from the abnormal motion of the mitral valve. The most frequent cause of systolic clicks is prolapse of a mitral valve leaflet, in which case there may be an associated late systolic regurgitant murmur, sometimes called the click-murmur syndrome. Compare ejection click.