Can you describe the pathophysiology of dilated cardiomyopathy?

Complex: The question is complex and the source for many papers and studies. An inciting agent causes the heart to become weak. Usually a virus or long standing poorly controlled hypertension. Either way and regardless of the source, if the heart is an inefficient pump, volume will back up in to the lungs and is called chf. This causes shortness of breathe and swelling.

See below: In lay terms - heart muscle getting weak by various toxins (drugs, alcohol); infection; other toxins and hormones (peri-partum). Then the muscle can't pump and the heart chambers get dilated by all the blood that cannot move forward.