Q. What is Atherosclerosis?

Atherosclerosis is an arterial lesion characterized by patchy thickening of the intima (innermost coal of artery) comprising of fat and layers of collagen like fibres. This is a slow or progressive disease, degenerative in nature affecting small and large arteries and weaken them leading to proliferation. This leads to problems in smooth flow of blood. These deposits are referred to as plaque. The plaque reduces the size of the lumen of the artery and consequently, the amount of blood flow. The reduced blood flow causes an inadequate nutrient and oxygen supply and water removal from the tissues, leading to a condition referred to as ischemia. These condition causes pain in the chest which is referred to as angina pectoris and it radiates down the left arm. When the lumen narrows so much so that a blood clot occurs in a coronary artery and blood flow is cut off, a heart attack can result. The dead tissue that results is called an infarct; the heart muscle that receives the blood is the myocardium. Thus, such an attack is referred to as an acute myocardial infarction (MI). Atherosclerosis is thus categorized as a continuum of as fatty streaks, intermediate lesions, fibrous plaques and complicated lesions.