What is Atherosclerosis?

The hardening and narrowing of arteries is called atherosclerosis. When there’s a build up of fats, cholesterol and other substances in the lining of the arteries, they form hard mess called plaque. For a period of time, this plaque will cause blood flow stiffer and harder. Eventually, this plaque will block the arteries and will cause heart disease, aneurysm and cardiovascular disease.

Causes of Atherosclerosis

Arteries are blood vessels that are lined with layers of cells called endothelium. When the endothelium is damaged due to smoking, high cholesterol and high blood pressure, atherosclerosis occurs.

Over the time, when the plaque gets bigger, it will be big enough to block the artery. Blocking of the artery can lead into incidences like tissue starvation of blood and oxygen leading to necrosis and if the plaque breaks off the wall of the artery and travels to the lungs, pulmonary embolism occurs.

Atherosclerosis has the tendency to affect the whole body system and when it happens it can be life threatening. Usually, atherosclerosis is common with older people but because of high cholesterol, it also affects the younger individuals.

How to prevent Atherosclerosis

Atherosclerosis is a progressive process but preventable. Several factors that can put an individual at risk and can lead to heart attack:

• eating food high in fat
• smoking
• excess alcohol intake
• not eating fruits and vegetables
• lack of exercise
• being overweight

Unhealthy lifestyle is not the only risk factor to hardening of the arteries. Here are several risk factors that can also cause heart attack:

• Diabetes
• High Blood Pressure
• Stress
• High Cholesterol

Treatments

Changed lifestyle and food intake habits can slow or stop plaque formation. Medication is another good tool that can decrease or perhaps stop atherosclerosis progression, as well as reducing risk of having heart attack and stroke.

There are ways that physicians use to see how severe the blockage in the artery:

• Doppler test: using sound wave or ultrasound
• Computed Tomography (CT) Angiography: using special type of CT scans
• Magnetic Resonance Arteriography (MRA): a special type of Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI) scan

Invasive ways are available, but they post a very high risk of complications, that a physician can use to open blockages:

• Angiography and stenting: Cardiac catheterization uses thin tube that is inserted into the artery in the leg or arm to access blocked artery. Live x-ray is use to see inside the artery. Angioplasty uses a catheter with balloon tips to open up a blocked artery.
• Bypass Surgery: Using healthy blood vessel, often taken from legs or chest, to bypass a segment of the blocked artery.

Some other suggestions that can help prevent hardening of the arteries:

• Eat fish but not fried fish and avoid fatty foods
• Limit alcohol intake
• Quit smoking
• Develop an exercise program
• Check blood pressure. Consult a physician on how often you should get blood pressure checked.

An individual should keep their blood pressure lower than 140/90 mmHg.

Atherosclerosis has no symptoms and can be detected early on disease by a special test. Call and set an appointment with your physician if you sense signs of weakening, shortness of breath and chest pain.