Dilated Cardiomyopathy

Alternate Names : Dilated Congestive Cardiomyopathy

How is the condition diagnosed?

A healthcare provider may suspect this disease after he or she takes the person's health history and does a physical exam. An ECG, or heart tracing, and chest x-ray may show certain changes. Echocardiography, a test that uses sound waves to look at the heart, can show the flabby heart muscle and how poorly it pumps blood. Other special x-ray tests may also be used in some cases. Rarely, a biopsy of the heart muscle is advised. This is a procedure to remove a small piece of heart muscle so that it can be sent to the lab and analyzed.