atherosclerosis

Digital slides

 UI:254 - Atherosclerosis - recanalization
 UI:390 - Atherosclerosis with fatty streak
 UI:614 - Atherosclerosis: Cholesterol clefts
 UI:677 - Atherosclerosis: Cholesterol clefts and dystrophic calcifiction
 UI:716: Thrombus on Atherosclerotic plaque

Definition: Atherosclerosis is a ’narrowing’ or hardening of the arteries by fibrosis of the vascular wall caused by atheroma.

Itis a pathological process that involves the progressive expansion of lesions (plaques) that reduce blood flow in arteries.

Atherosclerosis is a condition in which an artery wall thickens as a result of the accumulation of fatty materials such as cholesterol.

It is a syndrome affecting arterial blood vessels, a chronic inflammatory response in the walls of arteries, caused largely by the accumulation of macrophage white blood cells and promoted by low-density lipoproteins (LDL, plasma proteins that carry cholesterol and triglycerides) without adequate removal of fats and cholesterol from the macrophages by functional high-density lipoproteins (HDL), (see apoA-1 Milano).

It is commonly referred to as a hardening or furring of the arteries. It is caused by the formation of multiple plaques within the arteries.

See also

 arteriosclerosis (also known as arteriosclerotic vascular disease or ASVD)

References

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 Boerwinkle E, Ellsworth DL, Hallman DM, Biddinger A. Genetic analysis of atherosclerosis: a research paradigm for the common chronic diseases. Hum Mol Genet. 1996;5 Spec No:1405-10. PMID: 8875244