Systemic embolisation is common in patients with dilated cardiomyopathy. Microembolisation as a presenting sign of dilated cardiomyopathy, however, has not been reported before. A 37 year old woman in whom dilated cardiomyopathy presented as arterial microembolisation to the toes is described.

Two young White brothers had dilated (congestive) cardiomyopathy. The elder came to autopsy after a chronic course of congestive cardiac failure, the younger underwent repeated cardiac catheterization and transvenous right ventricular endomyocardial biopsy specimens demonstrated histopathological features in keeping with a diagnosis of idiopathic dilated cardiomyopathy. These brothers may have ...

A histopathological index of contractility failure, which was reported to be accurate for the diagnosis of idiopathic dilated or congestive cardiomyopathy in Japan, was used to assess endomyocardial biopsy specimens from 41 Dutch patients with suspected dilated cardiomyopathy. The calculated index had a sensitivity of 62.5% and a specificity of 68% for idiopathic dilated or congestive cardiomyo...

Background Alcohol consumed in large quantities for many years has long been recognized to induce an alcoholic cardiomyopathy. Clinically identical to idiopathic dilated cardiomyopathy, alcoholic cardiomyopathy is a major form of secondary dilated cardiomyopathy in the Western world. (See Medscape Reference articles Alcoholic Cardiomyopathy and Dilated Cardiomyopathy.) With this change in cardi...

OBJECTIVE To compare pulmonary function and respiratory muscle strength in patients with ischaemic and idiopathic dilated cardiomyopathy, well matched for indices of heart failure. METHODS The study involved 30 patients with ischaemic cardiomyopathy and 30 with idiopathic dilated cardiomyopathy. The groups were well matched for age, weight, and clinical severity of cardiac dysfunction as asse...

OBJECTIVES The purpose of this study was to document the various causes of dilated cardiomyopathy in a large group of adult patients with congestive heart failure. BACKGROUND Previous reports of the causes of dilated cardiomyopathy have usually been case reports of a single specific etiology or review articles. The frequency of any single specific heart muscle disease is largely unknown. ME...

AIMS Atrial function is an important component in overall cardiovascular performance. However, information on atrial function in dilated cardiomyopathy is limited. This study aimed to assess atrial function in dilated cardiomyopathy and to investigate if parameters of atrial function are more impaired in Chagas dilated cardiomyopathy (CDC) than in idiopathic dilated cardiomyopathy (IDC). METH...

The idiopathic dilated cardiomyopathy (IDMC) is a disease of the cardiac muscle characterized by systolic dilation and/or dysfunction of one or both ventricles, symptoms of congestive heart failure and risk of early death. Several studies in animal models and in humans have supported the hypothesis of the viral infection as initial event in the immunopathogenesis of the ventricular dilation. Th...

CONVENTIONAL treatment of patients with dilated cardiomyopathy has focused on the use of diuretic, inotropic, and vasodilator drugs. Despite the development of new vasodilators and inotropic agents, the bleak prognosis for these patients has changed little. An innovative and somewhat radical approach to the therapy of dilated cardiomyopathy was reported in 1975 by Waagstein et al. l in Goteborg...