How serious is dialated cardiomyopathy?

my dad is 50 years old and is about 75 lbs. overweight and was recently diagnosed with dialated cardiomyopathy. I was wondering what the prognosis of this disease is and if there is a good website to explain the disease?

Heart muscle disease.
Dilated, or congestive, cardiomyopathy is more common and occurs due to enlarging and stretching of the heart cavity, weakening the heart so it does not pump normally.
The heart muscle becomes weak and too flexible, preventing it pumping blood efficiently around the body.
Breathlessness results as fluid builds up in the lungs, congesting them. This is called left heart failure.
There may also be right heart failure, where fluid accumulates in the tissues and organs of the body, usually the legs and ankles, and the liver and abdomen.
The cause of the condition is unknown in many cases, but it can be caused by a virus, auto-immune diseases such as rheumatoid arthritis, excessive consumption of alcohol or, rarely, as a result of pregnancy - peri-partum cardiomyopathy.
Shortness of breath, palpitations, tiredness, swollen ankles and angina are common symptoms.
Blood clots often form because the blood is flowing more slowly through the heart.
Please see the webpages for more details on Dilated cardiomyopathy.

do a search on yahoo search put in what it is Dilated Cardiomyopathy I perfur you you see your self..Pearl g