Dilated cardiomyopathy is a form of heart failure defined by progressive dilatation of the cardiac chambers, beginning with the left ventricle, as a compensatory response (per Starling's law) to underlying myocardial contractile dysfunction. The condition arises from intrinsic weakness of cardiac muscle contraction, which in roughly a third of cases stems from a genetic abnormality in a contractile-apparatus protein, and belongs to the broader cardiology domain of heart failure and myocardial disease. As left ventricular dilation and failure progress, downstream effects—elevated pulmonary pressures, right ventricular strain, valve annulus stretching, and secondary atrioventricular valve regurgitation—illustrate how the heart functions as an interconnected system.
Dilated cardiomyopathy is a form of heart failure defined by progressive dilatation of the cardiac chambers, beginning with the left ventricle, as a compensatory response (per Starling's law) to unde…