Vascular Disorders Flashcards
(120 cards)
Intima
The innermost coating or membrane of a part or organ, especially of a vein or artery.
Atherosclerosis.
Primarily a progressive disease of intima involving large & medium-sized elastic and muscular arteries.
Atheroma.
Focal lipid-rich intimal lesions.
Major modifiable risk factors of Atherosclerosis.
- Hyperlipidemia
- Hypertension
- Smoking
- Diabetes mellitus
Major nonmodifiable (Constitutional) risk factors of atherosclerosis.
- Genetic abnormalities
- Family history
- Increasing age
- Male gender
Additional risk factors.
- Inflammation
- CRP level
- Hyperhomocystinemia
- Metabolic syndrome
- Lipoprotein (a)
- Raised procoagulant level
- Inadequate physical activity
- Stressful lifestyle
- Obesity
- Alcohol
CRP level
-Normal C-reactive protein level.
-Excellent marker for disrupted atheromatous
plaque.
Hyperhomocystinemia
- A medical condition characterized by an abnormally high level of homocysteine in the blood, conventionally described as above 15 μmol/L
- Homocysteine is a type of amino acid, a chemical your body uses to make proteins. Normally, vitamin B12, vitamin B6, and folic acid break down homocysteine and change it into other substances your body needs.
Major components of lipid in blood are.
- LDL
- HDL
- Serum cholesterol level
Low density lipoprotein
“Bad Cholesterol”
Serum cholesterol level
-Normal range (140-240 mg/dL)
-Strongly related to the dietary intake of saturated fat.
- Risk of atherosclerosis increases with increasing serum cholesterol concentrations and lowering serum
cholesterol concentrations reduce the risk.
Margarine.
Transaturated fats produced by artificial hydrogenation of polyunsaturated oils.
Cholesterol-Lowering Drug
Example:
- Statins, lower circulating cholesterol levels by inhibiting hydroxymethylglutaryl coenzyme A [HMG CoA] reductase.
- HMG CoA is a rate-limiting enzyme involved in cholestrol biosynthesis in Liver.
HDL
- Good cholesterol removes cholesterol from atheromatous plaque and transports to liver.
- From the liver, it is excreted in the bile.
Disorders associated with hypercholesterolemia.
- Nephrotic syndrome
- Alcoholism
- Hypothyroidism
- Diabetes mellitus
Increased very _______ leads to reduced HDL.
Very Low-Density Lipoprotein (VLDL)
Familial hypercholesterolemia
Mendelian disorders, such as familial hypercholesterolemia are associated with atherosclerosis.
Premenopausal women have lower incidence….
Premenopausal women have lower incidence of
atherosclerosis-related diseases compared to males of
the same age groups. However, after menopause this sex difference disappears. This may be due to protective role of estrogen.
*However, hormone replacement therapy has no role in the prevention of coronary heart disease.
Achilles’ tendon xanthoma
Pathognomonic of familial hypercholesterolemia.
Theories of pathogenesis of Atherosclerosis.
- Insudation hypothesis
- Encrustation hypothesis
- Monoclonal hypothesis
- Response-to-injury hypothesis
Insudation hypothesis
Here, the focal accumulation of lipid in a vessel wall is due to insudation (transport) of plasma lipoproteins across an intact endothelium.
Encrustation hypothesis
Here, small mural thrombi are formed at the site of endothelial damage.
These thrombi become organized and form plaque.
Monoclonal hypothesis
Here, a single clone (monoclonal) of smooth muscle migrate from underlying media into the intima and then proliferate.
The stimulus for monoclonal proliferation may be metabolites of cholesterol.
Response-to-injury Hypothesis.
Here, atherosclerosis develops as a chronic (inflammatory and healing) response of the arterial wall to the endothelial injury.
