dilate

The fetus was on the verge of coming out, its head pressed against her dilated cervix; she was 17 weeks pregnant and a miscarriage was “in progress,” doctors noted in hospital records.

Miss Ahmed was diagnosed with dilated cardiomyopathy at the age of 15.

The official cause of death was "dilated cardiomyopathy and congestive heart failure".

Sawusch died as a result of two heart conditions, the pathologist concluded: dilated cardiomyopathy and a congenitally narrow coronary artery.

Six children had systolic heart failure caused by a disease called dilated cardiomyopathy, in which the heart muscle becomes enlarged and weakened and does not pump correctly.