pathology of atherosclerosis

Question 1

describe Atherosclerosis

Answer 1

is the accumulation of fibrolipid plaques in systemic (as opposed to pulmonary) arteries

Question 2

what does Atherosclerosis cause?

Answer 2

It causes a huge amount of illness by reducing the blood flow in im- portant areas e.g. myocardial infarction in the heart

Question 3

risk factors for Atherosclerosis

Answer 3

• hypertension
• hyperlipidaemia
• cigarette smoking
• poorly-controlled diabetes mellitus

Question 4

describe the endothelial damage theory

Answer 4

• endothelial cells are delicate
• easily damaged by cigarette smoke, shearing forces at arterial divisions, hyperlipdaemia, glycosylation products

Question 5

what does cumulative damage leads to ? (endothelial damage theory)

Answer 5

-cumulative damage leads to endothelial ulceration, microthrombi, eventual development of established atheroclerotic plaques

Question 6

what are the complications of atherosclerosis?

Answer 6

• ‘blocked plumping’
  -if an atherosclerotic plaque completely blocks an artery (usually by superadded thrombosis or haemorrhage within the plaque) then no blood will flow to the organ supplied by that artery and (unless there is a second arterial supply which is unusual in the body) the organ will die (infarct).

Question 7

what happens if pieces of an atherosclerotic plaque break off and travel downstream?

Answer 7

-block smaller vessels causing embolisms
-This may cause small infarcts distal to the main atheroscle- rotic plaque and over time these cumulative effect of these small infarcts can be significant.