Hardening of The Arteries

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Hardening of The Arteries

Hardening of the arteries is a degenerative disease of large and medium sized arteries. Inflammation has shown to have an increasingly important role on the process in which immune mechanisms interact with metabolic factors influencing the initiation, propagation and activation of atherosclerotic lesions within the arteries.

Why Hardening of the Arteries is developed?

Many factors are associated with hardening of the arteries but there are only 4 or 5 which can be manipulated: smoking, high blood pressure, high cholesterol levels, presence of diabetes, and exercise.

In some people they’re a clear hereditary factor in which other members of the family will suffer with atherosclerosis at an early age that may be due to risk factors that have not yet been discovered. It can also be due to inherited diseases of cholesterol metabolism

Two Types of Problems Caused

First it may cause swelling or dilatation of the arteries to form aneurysms. Aneurysms can ultimately either rupture and bleed or they may accumulate large amounts of blood clot and either block or send showers of tiny clots into smaller arteries downstream.

Second hardening of the arteries causes the artery to narrow or block off completely. If an artery is narrowed or blocked then the effects of this will depend on which artery is affected. If the arteries to the legs are affected then this can cause intermittent claudicating pain in the legs on exercising.

If the arteries to the brain are affected then this can cause a stroke. If arteries to a part of the brain are blocked then this part of the brain dies. If this part of the brain controls movement of the right arm, then paralysis of the right arm will result.

If the arteries to the heart are affected this can cause chest pain or a heart attack. In the kidneys hardening of the arteries can cause kidney failure and high blood pressure (hypertension).

What can be done to reduce the risk of developing problems?

1. SMOKING

If you smoke and have problems with your arteries you should stop immediately. Stopping will not always let you feel the benefits immediately because it takes time. These can help in stopping you from smoking: nicotine patches, drugs buproprion and continuing support. The most important factor in quitting tobacco is the desire to quit.

2. HIGH BLOOD PRESSURE

If you have high blood pressure this should be treated as this reduces the risk of further arterial problems. Exercise and possibly dietary salt restriction may be helpful in maintaining a normal blood pressure. The individual benefits of treating blood pressure are of a similar order to treating cholesterol.

3. CHOLESTEROL

If your cholesterol level is high it should be lowered. A low fat diet can help but you may need tablets to keep cholesterol levels on low. Several beneficial effects of lipid lowering drugs may be due to their anti-inflammatory properties. Exercise can also be helpful in lowering cholesterol levels.

4. DIABETES

If you have sugar diabetes this can be treated with insulin tablets and sometimes diet alone to maintain a normal blood sugar. Diabetes is known to cause hardening of the arteries for a long time. It can cause particularly severe calcium deposits in the blood vessels. Controlling diabetes with insulin, diet and tablets can reduce the chances of arterial disease developing or progressing.

5. EXERCISE

Regular exercises help lower cholesterol levels as well as improve exercise tolerance and general well being. It is generally recommended that exercise needs to take place for 20 minutes, 3 times week. The exercise needs to increase the heart rate to be beneficial

Primary prevention is treating patients for vascular risk factors before they develop vascular diseases. Unfortunately even if it is an attractive concept primary prevention has even less benefits than secondary prevention.