what does a dilated ventricle mean?

Dilation of the ventricle (or Dilated Cardiomyopathy) is an enlargement of the heart chamber that pumps blood away from the heart. The right ventricle pumps blood to the lung. The left ventricle pumps blood to the rest of the body. The ventricle enlarges usually as a response to some disorder or damage to the heart muscle. A small injury reduces the force that the ventricle can pump blood out. This leads to a series of events (including hormonal response) that further stresses the heart to try to pump more blood with more force, which leads to further decreased blood pumping. This is what researchers believe leads to congestive heart failure. Treatments for this disease try to deride this degenerative cycle.

Interestingly, approximately 30% of dilated cardiomyopathy cases are genetic and linked to the dystrophin gene.

Dilated Ventricle

Dilated Left Ventricle

its a dilation of one of the heart chambers ..mainly the left ventricle it might be due to smoking ( for long time) or a heart valve disease

Actually, it means an enlarged heart chamber.

This can be due to heart failure (which is usually associated with angina), sick heart muscle (cardiomyopathy) or a leaking valve that can stretch the chamber because of blood running back when the heart is pumping.

enlarged heart valve