atheroma

Angiography, since the 1960s, has been the traditional way of evaluating for atheroma.

It is caused by the formation of multiple atheroma within the arteries.

A post-mortem showed coronary atheroma to have been the cause of death.

Certain stimuli that cause atheroma may lead to enhanced sensitivity of vasculature.

Studies have also found that statins reduce atheroma progression.

In stable angina, the developing atheroma is protected with a fibrous cap.

Many approaches have been promoted as methods to reduce atheroma progression:

If this latter event occurs, the result may be difficult to distinguish from a stroke due to atheroma in these arteries.

In effect, the muscular portion of the artery wall forms small aneurysms just large enough to hold the atheroma that are present.

Therefore, existing diagnostic strategies for detecting atheroma and tracking response to treatment have been extremely limited.

This can have the effect of accelerating the build-up of atheroma which in turn eventually leads to heart disease.

Typically, such regions start occurring within the heart arteries about 2-3 decades after atheroma start developing.

Angiography only reveals the edge of the atheroma that protrudes into the lumen.

Behind the tip is a tough plastic balloon which can then be expanded forcefully, flattening the atheroma.

However this can only occur if the atheroma progresses slowly, giving the anastomoses a chance to proliferate.

The most common cause of sudden cardiac death in adults over the age of 30 is coronary artery atheroma.

Fatty streak, the earliest stages of atheroma.

If the enlargement is beyond proportion to the atheroma thickness, then an aneurysm is created.

See IVUS and atheroma for a better understanding of this issue.

The cholesterol thus esterified with abnormal fatty acids is less easily eliminated and so leads to atheroma.

Angiography does not visualize atheroma; it only makes the blood flow within blood vessels visible.

Doctors have discovered that in suitable cases the lumpy atheroma deposits can be squeezed flat, widening the arteries again.

Vaccination against TIE-2-positive cells appears to reduce atheroma formation in experimental animals.

In most cases, arterial thrombosis follows rupture of atheroma, and is therefore referred to as atherothrombosis.

In developed countries, with improved public health, infection control and increasing life spans, atheroma processes have become an increasingly important problem and burden for society.