dilated cardiomyopathy
Sign in to saveAlso known as primary dilated cardiomyopathy, Congestive cardiomyopathy, Familial dilated cardiomyopathy, Idiopathic dilation cardiomyopathy, DCM
disease characterized by an enlarged heart
Key facts
- Other names
- Congestive cardiomyopathy, idiopathic cardiomyopathy, primary cardiomyopathy
- Specialty
- Cardiology
- Symptoms
- Feeling tired, leg swelling , shortness of breath , chest pain , fainting
- Complications
- Heart failure , heart valve disease , irregular heartbeat
- Usual onset
- Middle age
- Types
- Tachycardia-induced , others
- Causes
- Genetics , alcohol , cocaine , certain toxins, complications of pregnancy, in many cases the cause remains unclear, certain infections
- Diagnostic method
- Supported by electrocardiogram , chest X-ray , echocardiogram
- Differential diagnosis
- Coronary artery disease , heart valve disease , pulmonary embolism , other cardiomyopathy
- Treatment
- Lifestyle changes, medications, implantable cardioverter defibrillator , cardiac resynchronization therapy (CRT), heart transplant
- Medication
- ACE inhibitor , beta blocker , diuretic , blood thinners
- Prognosis
- Five-year survival rate ~50%
- Frequency
- 1 in 2500
via Wikipedia infobox
Research
29,593 papers- Dilated Cardiomyopathy.Circulation · 2019
- Neonatal dilated cardiomyopathy.Revista portuguesa de cardiologia : orgao oficial da Sociedade Portuguesa de Cardiologia = Portuguese journal of cardiology : an official journal of the Portuguese Society of Cardiology · 2017
- Dilated cardiomyopathy: from genes and molecules to potential treatments.Molecular and cellular biochemistry · 2025
- Dilated cardiomyopathy.Nature reviews. Disease primers · 2019
- Taurine deficiency associated with dilated cardiomyopathy and aging.Journal of pharmacological sciences · 2024
via PubMed
Wikidata facts
- Image
- Myocardiopathy dilated2.JPG
Show 6 more facts
- Commons category
- Dilated cardiomyopathy
- health specialty
- cardiology
- drug or therapy used for treatment
- inamrinone
- exact match
- purl.obolibrary.org/obo/HP_0001644
- NCI Thesaurus ID
- C84673
- on focus list of Wikimedia project
- WikiProject Medicine
via Wikidata · CC0
~18 min read
Encyclopedic overview
Dilated cardiomyopathy (DCM) is a condition in which the heart becomes enlarged and cannot pump blood effectively. Symptoms vary from none to feeling tired, leg swelling, and shortness of breath. It may also result in chest pain or fainting. Complications can include heart failure, heart valve disease, or an irregular heartbeat.
Causes include genetics, alcohol, cocaine, certain toxins, complications of pregnancy, and certain infections. Coronary artery disease and high blood pressure may play a role, but are not the primary cause. In many cases the cause remains unclear. It is a type of cardiomyopathy, a group of diseases that primarily affects the heart muscle. The diagnosis may be supported by an electrocardiogram, chest X-ray, or echocardiogram.
Excerpted from Wikipedia’s “dilated cardiomyopathy” article, available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 licence.