Arteriosclerosis is the slow stiffening of the body's blood pipes
The word comes from Greek for artery and hardened, and that is the core of it. Artery walls thicken, stiffen and lose their stretch, gradually squeezing the flow of blood to organs. In 2008 heart and circulatory disease driven by the process killed nearly 812,000 Americans, more than cancer.
Arteriosclerosis is an umbrella term rather than a single disease. Its best-known form, atherosclerosis, narrows large and medium arteries as plaque builds up inside them, a mix of cholesterol, fatty material, cellular waste, calcium and the clotting protein fibrin. Where the plaque settles differs from person to person. Other varieties target different vessels: one confined to the tiny arterioles that feed cells, another in which glassy hyaline material is laid down in small arteries, and Mönckeberg's type, a calcification of the vessel's middle layer seen mostly in older people's limbs.
All of them begin in the intima, the innermost lining, as cellular debris accumulates, and all share stiffer, thicker walls and steady deterioration. What happens next depends on where the damage sits. Narrowed coronary arteries can bring chest pain, while affected vessels in the brain or eyes can produce sudden weakness, numbness, confusion, trouble understanding speech and problems with sight.
Atherosclerosis is the leading cause of coronary artery disease and stroke. Studies weighing genetic and environmental influences find family history to be the strongest independent risk factor, alongside smoking and obesity. American estimates for 2008 counted some 16 million people living with heart disease of this kind, plus 5.8 million strokes.
Medicine has several ways to work around a blockage. In angioplasty, a balloon threaded through a catheter pushes deposits back against the wall and a mesh tube is often left to hold the artery open. Bypass surgery grafts a healthy piece of vein above and below the blockage, and endarterectomy removes plaque directly. The term itself was coined by Jean Lobstein while he studied calcified arterial lesions, though the condition's clinical significance was recognised only in the 20th century.
Source: Arteriosclerosis
