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Atherosclerosis
Atherosclerosis is what happens when deposits of fatty substances, cholesterol, cellular waste products, calcium and other substances build up in the inner lining of an artery. This buildup is called plaque. Atherosclerosis usually affects large and medium-sized arteries. Some hardening of arteries (atherosclerosis) often occurs when people grow older.
Atherosclerosis Plaques
Atherosclerosis causes some plaques that can grow large enough to reduce the blood's flow through an artery significantly. Most of the damage occurs when they become fragile and rupture. If they rupture they can cause blood clots to form that can block blood flow or break off and travel to another part of the body. If this happens and blocks a blood vessel that feeds the heart, it causes a heart attack. If a blood vessel that feeds the brain is blocked, it causes a stroke. And if blood supply to the arms or legs is reduced, atherosclerosis can cause difficulty walking and eventually gangrene.
Symptoms Of Atherosclerosis
Atherosclerosis often shows no symptoms until flow within a blood vessel has become seriously compromised. Typical symptoms include chest pain when a coronary artery is involved, or leg pain when a leg artery is involved. Sometimes symptoms of atherosclerosis occur only with exertion. In some people, however, they may occur at rest.
Risk Factors Of Atherosclerosis
Males and people with a family history of premature cardiovascular heart disease have an increased risk of atherosclerosis. These risk factors can't be controlled. Research shows the benefits of reducing the controllable risk factors for atherosclerosis:
- High blood cholesterol (especially LDL or bad cholesterol over 100 mg/dL)
- Cigarette smoking and exposure to tobacco smoke
- High blood pressure
- Diabetes mellitus
- Obesity
- Physical inactivity
Research suggests that inflammation in the circulating blood may play an important role in triggering heart attacks and strokes . Inflammation is the body's response to injury, and blood clotting is often part of that response. Blood clots, as described above, can slow down or stop blood flow in the arteries.
Other Names For Atherosclerosis
- Arteriosclerosis
- Hardening of the arteries
- Plaque buildup - arteries
How It Begins
Atherosclerosis is a slow, complex disease that typically starts in childhood and often progresses when people grow older. In some people it progresses rapidly, even in their third decade. Many scientists think it begins with damage to the innermost layer of the artery. This layer is called the endothelium. Damage to the arterial wall can be caused by:
- elevated levels of cholesterol and triglyceride in the blood
- high blood pressure.
- tobacco smoke
- diabetes
Smoking tobacco greatly worsens atherosclerosis and speeds up its growth in the coronary arteries, the aorta and arteries in the legs. (The coronary arteries bring blood to the heart muscle; the aorta is the large vessel that the heart pumps blood through to the body.) When the endothelium is damaged, fats, cholesterol, platelets, cellular waste products, calcium and other substances are deposited in the artery wall. These can stimulate artery wall cells to produce other substances that result in further buildup of cells. These cells and surrounding material thicken the endothelium significantly. The artery's diameter shrinks and blood flow decreases, reducing the oxygen supply. Often a blood clot forms near this plaque and blocks the artery, stopping the blood flow in atherosclerosis.
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