4.3 - Atherosclerosis

Question 1

What is atherosclerosis?

Answer 1

is a condition in which yellow fatty deposits build up on the lining of the arteries, causing them to be narrowed and resulting in many different health problems

Question 2

What are the stages that lead to atherosclerosis?

Answer 2

• damage to the endothelial lining of blood vessels leads to plaque formation caused by many factors like high BP
• once the damage has occurred, the body’s inflammatory response begins and white blood cells arrive at the site of the damage
• These cells accumulate chemicals from the blood, particularly cholesterol
• this leads to a plaque (atheroma) forming on the endothelial lining of arteries
• fibrous tissue + calcium salts build up around the atheroma turning into and hardened plaque
• this means the artery wall is less elastic than it should be and narrows the artery
• this restricts blood flow this increases the blood pressure, damaging the endothelial lining elsewhere in the artery, where the whole process repeats.

Question 3

Why does atherosclerosis usually occur in the arteries rather than in veins?

Answer 3

This is because the blood in the arteries flows fast under relatively high pressure which puts more strain on the endothelial lining in the vessel and can cause small areas of damage