Heart Failure

This condition, also called "congestive heart failure," is when your heart becomes so weak it can't pump enough blood to meet your body's needs. It doesn't mean that your heart has stopped beating. But it's a serious condition, and it needs medical care.

This disease is caused by a weakening of the heart muscle. It primarily affects the left ventricle, the heart's main pumping chamber. In a heart with dilated cardiomyopathy, the diseased muscle fibers have stretched and the chamber has enlarged to make up for its lost pumping power. A heart affected by dilated cardiomyopathy has difficulty supplying enough blood flow to meet the body's needs. This can result in heart failure.