Question

Describe what happens with atherosclerosis. How does it result in heart attack or embolism? Start out with perfectly soft, smooth open, resilient, healthy arteries that are coated with an olive oil like protective barrier. What happens to cause ‘rusting’, dry, weakened vessels, with hard, solid fatty plaque buildup?

Answer 1

#. A disease of elastic arteries and large and medium-sized muscular arteries characterized by the formation of hardening of the arteries due to plaque deposition.

Plaque is a sticky substance made up of fat, cholesterol, calcium, and other substances found in the blood.

#. Plaque builds up when cholesterol, white blood cells, calcium and other substances accumulate on an artery wall. In time, the plaque could break off, causing a blood clot. If the clot is large enough, it can block blood flow through a coronary artery and cause a heart attack.

Perfectly soft, smooth open, resilient, healthy arteries that are coated with an olive oil like protective barrier are less prone to plaque formation than the‘rusting’, dry, weakened vessels, with hard, solid fatty buildup.