Coronary Artery Disease Flashcards
Risk factors for atherosclerosis
Smoking, hypertension, hyperlipidaemia, diabetes, age, sex (male), genetics
Pathogenesis of atherosclerosis
Primary endothelial injury → accumulation of lipids and macrophages → migration of smooth muscle cells → increase in size
What do atheromas look like?
Pale, yellow, porridge like sludge in the artery walls
Earliest sign of accumulation of atheromatous plaques
Fatty streaks
Progression of atheromatous plaques
Fatty streaks, fibrofatty plaque, complicated plaque
When is atheromatous narrowing of an artery likely to produce critical disease? (3)
- If it is the only artery supplying an organ or tissue
- If the artery diameter is very small
- Overall blood flow is reduced
Complications of atheroma (5)
Arterial stenosis, thrombosis, aneurysm, dissection, embolism
Aneurysm definition
Abnormal and persistent dilatation of an artery due to a weakness in its wall
Most common site for aneurysm
Abdominal aorta
Types of aneurysm
Mycotic, atherosclerotic, dissecting, congenital, arteriovenous, traumatic, syphilitic
Complications of aneurysm
Rupture, thrombosis, embolism, pressure erosion of adjacent structures, infection
Dissection definition
Splitting within the media by flowing blood (artery splits in 2 with normal in the middle and another lumen all the way round)
Risk factors for and associations with dissection
Middle age +/- atheroma
Atheroma, hypertension, trauma, coarctation, marfan’s, pregnancy
Usual targets for embolism
Cerebral infarct, renal infarct and renal failure, lower limb infarction
Clinical effects of cardiac ischaemia
Reduced exercise intolerance, angina (stable and unstable), myocardial infarction, cardiac failure
What does cardiac fibrosis result from?
Loss of cardiac myocytes and replacement by fibrous tissue
Complications of arterial stenosis in the carotid artery
TIA, stroke, vascular dementia
Complications of arterial stenosis in the renal arteries
Hypertension and renal failure
Complications of arterial stenosis in the peripheral arteries
Claudication and foot/leg ischaemia
Clinical effects of thrombosis
MI, cerebral infarction, renal infarction, intestinal infarction
Chronic stable angina
Fixed stenosis within a coronary artery. There is demand led ischaemia, it is predictable and causes safe symptoms. Patients advised to stop, rest, and use GTN spray
Cardiac chest pain
Nature of heavy feeling, weight on the chest, pressure, tightness. Centre of the chest radiating into the jaw and into the left arm.
Continuum of acute coronary syndrome
Asymptomatic → stable angina → unstable angina → acute non STEMI and non-Q wave, sub-endocardial MI → STEMI and AMI Q wave MI
What is the hallmark of coronary syndromes
Going from stable to unstable
Factors affecting plaque rupture/fissure
Lipid content of plaque, thickness of fibrous cap, sudden changes in intraluminal pressure or tone, bending and twisting of an artery during each heart contraction, plaque shape, mechanical injury