Case of 19 yr. The heart weighed 600g due to hypertension, and was dilated. Causes in this case are anemia coupled with a hypertrophied heart subject to failure with sufficient stress, such as the toxemia and shock of acute hemorrhagic pancreatitis.
Specifics are unknown.
It is likely that any disease state that results in universal injury to the myocardium, such as anemia, is going to result in less effective fiber contraction, with incremental decreases in ejection fraction causing incremntal compensatory increases in fiber length, until an adequate ejection fraction is restored. Varies with diverse causes. Elongation of muscle fibers has no distinguishing histologic features. Dilatation is a gross feature. None Search Medline at National Library of Medicine Please be patient during transfer.