What is arteriosclerosis?
The literal translation of arteriosclerosis means hardening of the arteries, the tubes that come out of our heart and carry blood throughout our body. Now, arteriosclerosis is not simply a hardening or aging of these arteries over the years, but it is a disease that deteriorates, that spoils and gradually narrows our arteries, preventing the blood from passing through and decreasing the blood flow to all our organs.
What causes arteriosclerosis?
The cause of arteriosclerosis disease is basically having a series of risk factors that we all know and that will cause this disease of the arteries and this deterioration of the wall of the arteries that prevents the normal passage of blood circulation to be more effective. In the first place we have to talk about heredity. It is more than demonstrated that people with the inheritance of parents with arteriosclerotic disease at younger ages than is usual in our society, will also present more easily the possibility of developing the disease. Now, there are risk factors known to all that we could basically summarize in 4; the first would be hypertension, that is, the increase in blood pressure that can be due to multiple causes. Cholesterol, this type of fat that is deposited on the inner side of our arteries and gradually clogs them, preventing the blood from circulating and can completely block the artery, causing a heart attack or a series of thrombotic lesions. Then there is diabetes, an alteration of the carbohydrates in our blood that also deteriorates the wall of the artery, affecting smaller arteries. And finally, and very importantly, smoking causes a series of lesions due to inhibition of a series of substances that prevent this disease from developing.
What symptoms can alert to the presence of the disease?
The disease can manifest itself in any organ of our body but there are 3 locations where it occurs most frequently. Firstly at the level of the brain, the arteries inside the brain and the arteries leading to the brain, which can cause cerebral vascular accidents or strokes. Secondly at the level of the heart, the arteries that irrigate the myocardium decrease their caliber causing angina pectoris, which is this pain when exercising, or a heart attack in which the artery is completely clogged and there is an area of the heart in which there is a death of cells. And in third place the most frequent area would be in the lower limbs, the person suffers from pain when walking, which is popularly called intermittent claudication, and because of this pain the person has to stop at certain distances and wait for this pain to disappear. In its evolution evidently the person can happen to have constant pain or pain at rest, ulcerative lesions can appear in the lower limbs and a series of lesions and alterations that will tell us the importance of the disease.
What does the treatment consist of?
The treatment of arteriosclerosis consists basically of controlling risk factors and eliminating factors such as smoking and controlling hypertension, diabetes and cholesterol. Secondly, medical treatment to prevent this blood from thrombosing inside the arteries and to slow down the evolution of fat deposits on the walls of the arteries. And finally we have the surgical treatments which are those that will restore this circulation and the endoluminal treatments, or treatment of the arteries, to widen and allow a better passage of the blood.