What are the main causes of arteriosclerosis and atherosclerosis. How can these conditions be diagnosed and treated effectively. What lifestyle changes can help prevent hardening of the arteries.

Understanding Arteriosclerosis and Atherosclerosis

Arteriosclerosis and atherosclerosis are often used interchangeably to describe the hardening of arteries. While closely related, they have subtle differences. Arteriosclerosis is a general term for the thickening and hardening of arteries, while atherosclerosis specifically refers to the buildup of fatty deposits (plaques) in the arterial walls.

These conditions develop gradually over time as fat, cholesterol, and other substances accumulate in the artery walls. As plaques grow, they narrow the arteries and restrict blood flow, potentially leading to serious cardiovascular problems.

The Progression of Arterial Hardening

How does arterial hardening progress over time? The process typically begins in early adulthood and worsens with age. Initially, small deposits form in the arterial walls. Over years or decades, these deposits enlarge, harden, and may eventually rupture, triggering blood clots that can block blood flow entirely.

Risk Factors for Developing Hardened Arteries

Several factors contribute to the development of arteriosclerosis and atherosclerosis:

• High blood cholesterol levels
• High blood pressure
• Smoking
• Diabetes
• Obesity
• Lack of physical activity
• Family history of cardiovascular disease
• Age (risk increases as you get older)
• Poor diet high in saturated and trans fats

Can these risk factors be modified? Many of them can be controlled through lifestyle changes and medical interventions, which we’ll discuss later in this article.

Recognizing the Symptoms of Arterial Hardening

Arteriosclerosis and atherosclerosis often progress silently for years before causing noticeable symptoms. When symptoms do appear, they vary depending on which arteries are affected:

Coronary Artery Disease

When atherosclerosis affects the arteries supplying the heart, it can lead to:

• Chest pain (angina)
• Shortness of breath
• Heart attack

Carotid Artery Disease

Atherosclerosis in the arteries leading to the brain may cause:

• Sudden weakness or numbness in the face or limbs
• Difficulty speaking
• Temporary vision loss in one eye
• Stroke

Peripheral Artery Disease

When arteries in the limbs are affected, symptoms may include:

• Pain or cramping in the legs while walking (claudication)
• Numbness or weakness in the legs
• Slow-healing wounds on the feet or toes

Why do symptoms often appear only in advanced stages? The body develops collateral circulation over time, allowing blood to flow around partially blocked arteries. This compensatory mechanism can mask the progression of the disease until blockages become severe.

Diagnostic Approaches for Arterial Hardening

Diagnosing arteriosclerosis and atherosclerosis often involves a combination of physical examination, medical history review, and various diagnostic tests:

Physical Examination

During a physical exam, a healthcare provider may:

• Listen for abnormal sounds (bruits) over arteries using a stethoscope
• Check pulses in various parts of the body
• Look for signs of poor wound healing or changes in skin color

Blood Tests

Blood tests can assess various risk factors, including:

• Cholesterol levels (total cholesterol, LDL, HDL, triglycerides)
• Blood sugar levels
• Markers of inflammation

Imaging Tests

Several imaging techniques can visualize arterial health:

• Doppler ultrasound: Uses sound waves to create images of blood flow
• Computed tomography (CT) angiography: Provides detailed cross-sectional images of arteries
• Magnetic resonance angiography (MRA): Uses magnetic fields and radio waves to create detailed images of blood vessels
• Angiography: An invasive procedure that uses X-rays and contrast dye to visualize blood flow through arteries

How often should adults be screened for cardiovascular risk factors? Guidelines recommend that all adults over 18 have their blood pressure checked annually. Cholesterol screening should begin between ages 20 to 35 for men and 20 to 45 for women, with repeat testing every 5 years for those with normal levels. More frequent testing may be needed for individuals with risk factors or existing cardiovascular conditions.

Treatment Strategies for Arteriosclerosis and Atherosclerosis

Managing arteriosclerosis and atherosclerosis typically involves a combination of lifestyle changes and medical interventions:

Lifestyle Modifications

What lifestyle changes can help manage arterial hardening?

• Quit smoking: This is one of the most important steps to improve cardiovascular health
• Adopt a heart-healthy diet: Focus on fruits, vegetables, whole grains, lean proteins, and healthy fats
• Increase physical activity: Aim for at least 150 minutes of moderate-intensity exercise per week
• Maintain a healthy weight: Losing excess weight can significantly reduce cardiovascular risk
• Manage stress: Chronic stress can contribute to arterial damage
• Limit alcohol consumption: If you drink, do so in moderation

Medications

Several types of medications may be prescribed to manage risk factors and prevent complications:

• Statins: To lower cholesterol levels
• Antihypertensive drugs: To control high blood pressure
• Antiplatelet medications: To prevent blood clots
• Diabetes medications: To manage blood sugar levels in diabetic patients

Surgical Interventions

In severe cases, surgical procedures may be necessary:

• Angioplasty and stenting: To open blocked arteries
• Endarterectomy: To remove plaque from arteries
• Bypass surgery: To create a new route for blood flow around blocked arteries

How is the most appropriate treatment plan determined? Treatment decisions are based on individual risk factors, the severity of arterial hardening, and overall health status. A personalized approach, developed in consultation with healthcare providers, is essential for optimal management.

Preventing Arteriosclerosis and Atherosclerosis

Prevention is key in managing the risk of arterial hardening. Many of the same lifestyle changes used to treat these conditions can also help prevent their onset:

Dietary Recommendations

What dietary changes can help prevent arterial hardening?

• Reduce intake of saturated and trans fats
• Increase consumption of fruits, vegetables, and whole grains
• Choose lean proteins, including fish rich in omega-3 fatty acids
• Limit sodium intake to help control blood pressure
• Moderate alcohol consumption

Exercise Guidelines

Regular physical activity is crucial for cardiovascular health. The American Heart Association recommends:

• At least 150 minutes of moderate-intensity aerobic activity or 75 minutes of vigorous aerobic activity per week
• Muscle-strengthening activities at least two days per week
• Reducing sedentary time by taking frequent breaks to move throughout the day

Stress Management

Chronic stress can contribute to inflammation and arterial damage. Effective stress management techniques include:

• Mindfulness meditation
• Deep breathing exercises
• Regular exercise
• Adequate sleep
• Engaging in enjoyable hobbies or activities

How can individuals stay motivated to maintain these healthy habits? Setting realistic goals, tracking progress, and seeking support from friends, family, or support groups can help sustain long-term lifestyle changes.

The Role of Regular Health Screenings

Regular health screenings play a crucial role in the early detection and management of arteriosclerosis and atherosclerosis. These screenings can identify risk factors before symptoms develop, allowing for early intervention.

Recommended Screening Tests

Which screening tests are most important for assessing cardiovascular health?

• Blood pressure measurements
• Lipid profile (cholesterol tests)
• Blood glucose tests
• Body mass index (BMI) calculation
• Waist circumference measurement

Frequency of Screenings

How often should these screenings be performed? The frequency of screenings depends on individual risk factors and age:

• Blood pressure: Annually for adults over 18, more frequently for those with hypertension or other risk factors
• Lipid profile: Every 4-6 years for adults with no risk factors, more frequently for those at higher risk
• Blood glucose: Every 3 years starting at age 45, or earlier and more frequently for those at higher risk of diabetes

Regular check-ups with a healthcare provider can help determine the appropriate screening schedule based on individual health status and risk factors.

Emerging Research and Future Directions

The field of cardiovascular medicine is continuously evolving, with ongoing research aimed at improving our understanding and treatment of arteriosclerosis and atherosclerosis.

New Treatment Approaches

What innovative treatments are being developed for arterial hardening? Some promising areas of research include:

• PCSK9 inhibitors: A new class of cholesterol-lowering drugs
• Gene therapy: Targeting specific genetic factors involved in atherosclerosis
• Nanotechnology: Developing targeted drug delivery systems
• Stem cell therapy: Exploring the potential of stem cells to repair damaged arterial tissue

Predictive Technologies

Advanced imaging and diagnostic technologies are being developed to detect arterial hardening at earlier stages:

• Artificial intelligence-assisted imaging analysis
• Advanced biomarker testing
• Wearable devices for continuous cardiovascular monitoring

How might these advancements change the landscape of cardiovascular care? As research progresses, we may see more personalized and precise approaches to preventing and treating arteriosclerosis and atherosclerosis, potentially leading to improved outcomes and quality of life for patients.

In conclusion, arteriosclerosis and atherosclerosis are complex conditions that require a multifaceted approach to prevention, diagnosis, and treatment. By understanding the risk factors, recognizing symptoms, and adopting heart-healthy lifestyle habits, individuals can take proactive steps to protect their cardiovascular health. Regular medical check-ups and screenings are essential for early detection and management of these conditions. As research continues to advance, we can look forward to more effective and targeted treatments in the future, offering hope for better cardiovascular health outcomes worldwide.

Atherosclerosis: MedlinePlus Medical Encyclopedia

Atherosclerosis, sometimes called “hardening of the arteries,” occurs when fat, cholesterol, and other substances build up in the walls of arteries. These deposits are called plaques. Over time, these plaques can narrow or completely block the arteries and cause problems throughout the body.

Atherosclerosis is a common disorder.

Atherosclerosis often occurs with aging. As you grow older, plaque buildup narrows your arteries and makes them stiffer. These changes make it harder for blood to flow through them.

Clots may form in these narrowed arteries and block blood flow. Pieces of plaque can also break off and move to smaller blood vessels, blocking them.

These blockages starve tissues of blood and oxygen. This can result in damage or tissue death. It is a common cause of heart attack and stroke.

High blood cholesterol levels can cause hardening of the arteries at a younger age.

For many people, high cholesterol levels are due to a diet that is too high in saturated fats and trans fats.

Other factors that can contribute to hardening of the arteries include:

• Diabetes
• Family history of hardening of the arteries
• High blood pressure
• Lack of exercise
• Being overweight or obese
• Smoking

Atherosclerosis does not cause symptoms until blood flow to part of the body becomes slowed or blocked.

If the arteries supplying the heart become narrow, blood flow can slow down or stop. This can cause chest pain (stable angina), shortness of breath, and other symptoms.

Narrowed or blocked arteries may also cause problems in the intestines, kidneys, legs, and brain.

A health care provider will perform a physical exam and listen to the heart and lungs with a stethoscope. Atherosclerosis can create a whooshing or blowing sound (“bruit”) over an artery.

All adults over the age of 18 should have their blood pressure checked every year. More frequent measurement may be needed for those with a history of high blood pressure readings or those with risk factors for high blood pressure.

Cholesterol testing is recommended in all adults. The major national guidelines differ on the suggested age to start testing.

• Screening should begin between ages 20 to 35 for men and ages 20 to 45 for women.
• Repeat testing is not needed for five years for most adults with normal cholesterol levels.
• Repeat testing may be needed if lifestyle changes occur, such as large increase in weight or a change in diet.
• More frequent testing is needed for adults with a history of high cholesterol, diabetes, kidney problems, heart disease, stroke, and other conditions

A number of imaging tests may be used to see how well blood moves through your arteries.

• Doppler tests that use ultrasound or sound waves
• Magnetic resonance arteriography (MRA), a special type of MRI scan
• Special CT scans called CT angiography
• Arteriograms or angiography that use x-rays and contrast material (sometimes called “dye”) to see the path of blood flow inside the arteries

Lifestyle changes will reduce your risk for atherosclerosis. Things you can do include:

• Quit smoking: This is the single most important change you can make to reduce your risk for heart disease and stroke.
• Avoid fatty foods: Eat well-balanced meals that are low in fat and cholesterol. Include several daily servings of fruits and vegetables. Adding fish to your diet at least twice a week may be helpful. However, do not eat fried fish.
• Limit how much alcohol you drink: Recommended limits are one drink a day for women, two a day for men.
• Get regular physical activity: Exercise with moderate intensity (such as brisk walking) 5 days a week for 30 minutes a day if you are at a healthy weight. For weight loss, exercise for 60 to 90 minutes a day. Talk to your provider before starting a new exercise plan, especially if you have been diagnosed with heart disease or you have ever had a heart attack.

If your blood pressure is high, it is important for you to lower it and keep it under control.

The goal of treatment is to reduce your blood pressure so that you have a lower risk of health problems caused by high blood pressure. You and your provider should set a blood pressure goal for you.

• Do not stop or change high blood pressure medicines without talking to your provider.

Your provider may want you to take medicine for abnormal cholesterol levels or for high blood pressure if lifestyle changes do not work. This will depend on:

• Your age
• The medicines you take
• Your risk of side effects from possible medicines
• Whether you have heart disease or other blood flow problems
• Whether you smoke or are overweight
• Whether you have diabetes or other heart disease risk factors
• Whether you have any other medical problems, such as kidney disease

Your provider may suggest taking aspirin or another medicine to help prevent blood clots from forming in your arteries. These medicines are called antiplatelet drugs. DO NOT take aspirin without first talking to your provider.

Losing weight if you are overweight and reducing blood sugar if you have diabetes or pre-diabetes can help reduce the risk of developing atherosclerosis.

Atherosclerosis cannot be reversed once it has occurred. However, lifestyle changes and treating high cholesterol levels can prevent or slow the process from becoming worse. This can help reduce the chances of having a heart attack and stroke as a result of atherosclerosis.

In some cases, the plaque is part of a process that causes a weakening of the wall of an artery. This can lead to a bulge in an artery called an aneurysm. Aneurysms can break open (rupture). This causes bleeding that can be life threatening.

Hardening of the arteries; Arteriosclerosis; Plaque buildup – arteries; Hyperlipidemia – atherosclerosis; Cholesterol – atherosclerosis

• Abdominal aortic aneurysm repair – open – discharge
• Aortic aneurysm repair – endovascular – discharge
• Aspirin and heart disease
• Heart failure – discharge
• Heart failure – what to ask your doctor
• High blood pressure – what to ask your doctor
• Type 2 diabetes – what to ask your doctor

• Atherosclerosis
• Carotid stenosis – X-ray of the left artery
• Carotid stenosis – X-ray of the right artery
• Enlarged view of atherosclerosis
• Prevention of heart disease
• Developmental process of atherosclerosis

Arnett DK, Blumenthal RS, Albert MA, Buroker AB, et al. 2019 ACC/AHA Guideline on the primary prevention of cardiovascular disease: executive summary: a report of the American College of Cardiology/American Heart Association Task Force on Clinical Practice Guidelines. J Am Coll Cardiol. 2019;74(10):1376-1414. PMID: 30894319 pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/30894319/.

Genest J, Mora S, Libby P. Lipoprotein disorders and cardiovascular disease. In: Libby P, Bonow RO, Mann DL, Tomaselli GF, Bhatt DL, Solomon SD, eds. Braunwald’s Heart Disease: A Textbook of Cardiovascular Medicine. 12th ed. Philadelphia, PA: Elsevier; 2022:chap 27.

Libby P. The vascular biology of atherosclerosis. In: Libby P, Bonow RO, Mann DL, Tomaselli GF, Bhatt DL, Solomon SD, eds. Braunwald’s Heart Disease: A Textbook of Cardiovascular Medicine. 12th ed. Philadelphia, PA: Elsevier; 2022: chap 24.

Marks AR. Cardiac and circulatory function. In: Goldman L, Schafer AI, eds. Goldman-Cecil Medicine. 26th ed. Philadelphia, PA: Elsevier; 2020:chap 47.

US Preventive Services Task Force website. Final recommendation statement: statin use for the primary prevention of cardiovascular disease in adults: preventive medication. Updated November 13, 2016. Accessed April 5, 2022. www.uspreventiveservicestaskforce.org/Page/Document/RecommendationStatementFinal/statin-use-in-adults-preventive-medication1.

Whelton PK, Carey RM, Aronow WS, et al. 2017 ACC/AHA/AAPA/ABC/ACPM/AGS/APhA/ASH/ASPC/NMA/PCNA guideline for the prevention, detection, evaluation, and management of high blood pressure in adults: a report of the American College of Cardiology/American Heart Association Task Force on Clinical Practice Guidelines. J Am Coll Cardiol. 2018;71(19):2199-2269. PMID: 2914653 pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/29146533/.

Updated by: Michael A. Chen, MD, PhD, Associate Professor of Medicine, Division of Cardiology, Harborview Medical Center, University of Washington Medical School, Seattle, WA. Also reviewed by David Zieve, MD, MHA, Medical Director, Brenda Conaway, Editorial Director, and the A. D.A.M. Editorial team.

Symptoms, Causes, Diagnosis, and Treatment

Written by WebMD Editorial Contributors

• What Is Atherosclerosis?
• What Causes Atherosclerosis?
• What Are the Symptoms of Atherosclerosis?
• What Are the Risk Factors for Atherosclerosis?
• How Do You Diagnose Atherosclerosis?
• How Does Plaque Affect Atherosclerosis?
• What Are the Complications of Atherosclerosis?
• How Do You Treat Atherosclerosis?
• More

Atherosclerosis is a hardening and narrowing of your arteries caused by cholesterol plaques lining the artery over time. It can put blood flow at risk as your arteries become blocked.

You might hear it called arteriosclerosis or atherosclerotic cardiovascular disease. It’s the usual cause of heart attacks, strokes, and peripheral vascular disease — what together are called cardiovascular disease.

You can prevent and treat this process.

Arteries are blood vessels that carry blood from your heart throughout your body. They’re lined by a thin layer of cells called the endothelium. It keeps the inside of your arteries in shape and smooth, which keeps blood flowing.

Atherosclerosis begins with damage to the endothelium. Common causes include:

• High cholesterol
• High blood pressure
• Inflammation, like from arthritis or lupus
• Obesity or diabetes
• Smoking

That damage causes plaque to build up along the walls of your arteries.

When bad cholesterol, or LDL, crosses a damaged endothelium, it enters the wall of your artery. Your white blood cells stream in to digest the LDL. Over the years, cholesterol and cells become plaque in the wall of your artery.

Plaque creates a bump on your artery wall. As atherosclerosis gets worse, that bump gets bigger. When it gets big enough, it can create a blockage.

That process goes on throughout your entire body. It’s not only your heart at risk. You’re also at risk for stroke and other health problems.

Atherosclerosis usually doesn’t cause symptoms until you’re middle-age or older. As the narrowing becomes severe, it can choke off blood flow and cause pain. Blockages can also rupture suddenly. That causes blood to clot inside an artery at the site of the rupture.

You might not have symptoms until your artery is nearly closed or until you have a heart attack or stroke. Symptoms can also depend on which artery is narrowed or blocked.

Symptoms related to your coronary arteries include:

• Arrhythmia, an unusual heartbeat
• Pain or pressure in your upper body, including your chest, arms, neck, or jaw. This is known as angina.
• Shortness of breath

Symptoms related to the arteries that deliver blood to your brain include:

• Numbness or weakness in your arms or legs
• A hard time speaking or understanding someone who’s talking
• Drooping facial muscles
• Paralysis
• Severe headache
• Trouble seeing in one or both eyes

Symptoms related to the arteries of your arms, legs, and pelvis include:

• Leg pain when walking
• Numbness

Atherosclerosis starts when you’re young. Research has found that even teenagers can have signs.

If you’re 40 and generally healthy, you have about a 50% chance of getting serious atherosclerosis in your lifetime. The risk goes up as you get older. Most adults older than 60 have some atherosclerosis, but most don’t have noticeable symptoms.

These risk factors are behind more than 90% of all heart attacks:

• Abdominal obesity (“spare tire”)
• Diabetes
• High alcohol intake (more than one drink for women, one or two drinks for men, per day)
• High blood pressure
• High cholesterol
• Not eating fruits and vegetables
• Not exercising regularly
• Smoking
• Stress

Rates of death from atherosclerosis have fallen 25% in the past 3 decades. This is because of better lifestyles and improved treatments.

Your doctor will start with a physical exam. They’ll listen to your arteries and check for weak or absent pulses.

You might need tests, including:

• Angiogram, in which your doctor puts dye into your arteries so they’ll be visible on an X-ray
• Ankle-brachial index, a test to compare blood pressures in your lower leg and arm
• Blood tests to look for things that raise your risk of having atherosclerosis, like high cholesterol or blood sugar
• CT scan or magnetic resonance angiography (MRA) to look for hardened or narrowed arteries
• EKG, a record of your heart’s electrical activity
• Stress test, in which you exercise while health care professionals watch your heart rate, blood pressure, and breathing

You might also need to see doctors who specialize in certain parts of your body, like cardiologists or vascular specialists, depending on your condition.

Plaques from atherosclerosis can behave in different ways.

They can stay in your artery wall. There, the plaque grows to a certain size and then stops. Since this plaque doesn’t block blood flow, it may never cause symptoms.

Plaque can grow in a slow, controlled way into the path of blood flow. Over time, it causes significant blockages. Pain in your chest or legs when you exert yourself is the usual symptom.

The worst happens when plaques suddenly rupture, allowing blood to clot inside an artery. In your brain, this causes a stroke; in your heart, a heart attack.

The plaques of atherosclerosis cause the three main kinds of cardiovascular disease:

• Coronary artery disease: Stable plaques in your heart’s arteries cause angina (chest pain). Sudden plaque rupture and clotting cause heart muscle to die. This is a heart attack.
• Cerebrovascular disease: Ruptured plaques in your brain’s arteries cause strokes with the potential for permanent brain damage. Temporary blockages in your artery can also cause something called transient ischemic attacks (TIAs), which are warning signs of a stroke. They don’t cause any brain injury.
• Peripheral artery disease: When the arteries in your legs narrow, it can lead to poor circulation. This makes it painful for you to walk. Wounds also won’t heal as well. If you have a severe form of the disease, you might need to have a limb removed (amputation).

Complications of atherosclerosis include:

• Aneurysms
• Angina
• Chronic kidney disease
• Coronary or carotid heart disease
• Heart attack
• Heart failure
• Peripheral artery disease
• Stroke
• Unusual heart rhythms

Once you have a blockage, it’s generally there to stay. But with medication and lifestyle changes, you can slow or stop plaques. They may even shrink slightly with aggressive treatment.

Lifestyle changes: You can slow or stop atherosclerosis by taking care of the risk factors. That means a healthy diet, exercise, and no smoking. These changes won’t remove blockages, but they’re proven to lower the risk of heart attacks and strokes.

Medication: Drugs for high cholesterol and high blood pressure will slow and may even halt atherosclerosis. They lower your risk of heart attack and stroke.

Your doctor can use more invasive techniques to open blockages from atherosclerosis or go around them:

• Angiography and stenting: Your doctor puts a thin tube into an artery in your leg or arm to get to diseased arteries. Blockages are visible on a live X-ray screen. Angioplasty (using a catheter with a balloon tip) and stenting can often open a blocked artery. Stenting helps ease symptoms, but it does not prevent heart attacks.
• Bypass surgery: Your doctor takes a healthy blood vessel, often from your leg or chest, and uses it to go around a blocked segment.
• Endarterectomy: Your doctor goes into the arteries in your neck to remove plaque and restore blood flow. They also may place a stent higher risk patients.
• Fibrinolytic therapy: A drug dissolves a blood clot that’s blocking your artery.

Your doctor will discuss the complications of these procedures with you. 

Top Picks

Siberian doctors have created artificial blood vessels using electrospinning – Nauka

Employees of the National Medical Research Center. E.N. Meshalkin and the Institute of Chemical Biology and Fundamental Medicine of the Siberian Branch of the Russian Academy of Sciences (SB RAS) have created prostheses made of polymeric materials, on which real cells of the vessel walls adhere well. They also tested new versions of stents (vascular dilators), the walls of which contain substances that slow down the overgrowth of their lumen. The publication of the Siberian Branch of the Russian Academy of Sciences “Science in Siberia” reports on the developments of domestic doctors.

Narrowing of the lumen of blood vessels caused by atherosclerosis and other diseases is now usually treated with endovascular surgery. They involve operations in which only small incisions are made in the walls of blood vessels. Through these incisions, stents are inserted into the vessels – mesh structures made of materials that do not cause rejection reactions. The walls of the stents are able to move apart and thereby maintain the diameter of the lumen of the vessel constant. There are practically no scars from the installation of stents.

But there are significant limitations in their use. Firstly, these devices expand the lumen of the vessels only for a limited time, after which their patency must be restored, and it is not always possible to do this again. In this case, it is necessary to carry out transplantation of vessels instead of those that have become unusable. It is far from always possible to select a suitable transplant, since it must come from a certain part of the body and not be rejected by the body’s immunity. Therefore, it is necessary to develop artificial vessels devoid of these shortcomings. Secondly, too long (more than 5-7 cm) or calcified (hardened due to salt deposits) sections of the vessel walls cannot be expanded in this way.

At the moment, the most common are “knitted” vascular prostheses made of polyester or dacron and “cast” of polytetrafluoroethylene. They are used in operations on vessels located at the level of the thighs, but are not suitable for transplantation to the area below the knee and have a limited service life. Specialists from two scientific institutions in Novosibirsk tested another method of assembling vascular prostheses – electrospinning. With it, the desired structure, like a fabric for clothing, is “gathered” with the help of a thread of biostable polymers created in an electric field.

The fit is not perfect, but this is where the advantage of these prostheses lies. According to the head of the Center for Vascular Surgery NMIC them. E.N. Meshalkin, Doctor of Medical Sciences Andrey Anatolyevich Karpenko, in the intervals between these fibers, cells from neighboring sections of the walls of the same vessel are well fixed – endotheliocytes. They secrete substances that block the formation of blood clots. In experiments on laboratory animals, the results of which are now being processed for publication, it has been shown that vascular prostheses made using this technology can help patients even in difficult cases when the damage is long or has a high degree of calcification.

Another project by the same authors is improving the design of stents. A polymer coating with microscopic cells is applied to the metal frame of such a product, in which molecules of cytostatics are placed. This is a class of substances that stop cell division. In the case of stents, cytostatics will prevent overgrowth of their scaffolds with excess endothelial cells. Theoretically, instead of cytostatics, other molecules with the desired therapeutic effect can be applied to the polymer coating.

The main goal of Siberian scientists is to extend the service life of stents and artificial vessel fragments. “It is necessary that new prostheses last longer than existing ones. If the period of their operation can be extended for at least a year, this can already be considered a definite victory,” says Andrey Karpenko.

Cardiovascular disease and its impact on hearing

Healthy blood circulation is important for good hearing

Cardiovascular disease (CVD) is the leading cause of death in both men and women . Scientists have found that a healthy cardiovascular system is strongly interconnected with the auditory system.

CVD is also one of the leading causes of death worldwide.

Every year many people die from CVD, according to statistics, for no other reason do people die so often. In 2020, diseases associated with the heart and blood vessels endangered the lives of more than 900,000 Russians. CVD is one of the most popular killers, accounting for 47% of all deaths.

Most heart disease is caused by defective blood vessels due to high blood pressure or narrowing of the arteries. These difficulties can cause blockage or rupture of blood vessels, which can also lead to chest pain or stroke. In other cases, pathologies of the heart muscles and rhythm lead to various types of heart disease, such as heart failure.

A fairly large number of people do not realize how serious the risk of heart disease is for them personally or how closely it is associated with other diseases, such as hearing problems.

Do not neglect regular health checks, because it is very important to be aware of all the risks and take action in a timely manner.

Link between heart health and hearing loss

So what does your heart health have to do with hearing? It’s all about the blood flow.

Research has shown that normal circulation plays an important role in maintaining good hearing. Conversely, poor circulation and damage to the blood vessels in the ear can contribute to hearing loss. For this reason, hearing loss and diabetes have a relationship.

Fine hair cells in the cochlea play an important role in converting noise into electrical impulses. These same impulses catch your ears, and the hair cells in the cochlea are just the same dependent on good blood circulation. Poor circulation deprives these hair cells of sufficient oxygen, causing damage or destruction. Hair cells do not have the ability to regenerate. The consequence can be hearing loss, in addition, under such circumstances, noise or ringing in the ears often develops.

Research in the field of CVD and its impact on hearing over the past 60 years confirms that pathologies of the cardiovascular system have a negative impact on the peripheral and central auditory system, especially in older people.

Heart disease and tinnitus

Altered blood vessels, constricted arteries, hardened arteries, and other vascular problems can cause a distinctive tinnitus that sounds like a heartbeat. Also known as pulsatile tinnitus, tinnitus. If you experience this kind of noise, contact your doctor immediately. It can be harmless, and sometimes it can be a sign of worsening heart disease.

Can a stroke cause hearing loss?

Strokes usually occur when the blood supply to the brain is blocked. Thus, the brain is deprived of oxygen, which is very necessary for it. If a stroke occurs in the area of ​​the brain responsible for hearing or balance, it can provoke pro hearing problems.

Chronic complications of stroke

If a stroke affects the temporal lobe of the brain, a person may experience long-term negative changes in their hearing. These include problems with the perception of sounds and words, or it will be difficult for a person to perceive the most ordinary sounds, they will seem unusual to him. Rarely, a person may have “auditory hallucinations”, he hears sounds that are not actually there.

Hearing loss in one ear and risk of stroke

There is some evidence that people who experience sudden hearing loss in one ear (also known as sudden sensorineural hearing loss) are at increased risk of stroke over the next few years after hearing loss.

The causes of sudden hearing loss are poorly understood, but it is believed that one of the causes may be a violation of the blood supply to the part of the brain responsible for hearing.

If you have had hearing loss in one ear, you should see a doctor immediately as there is a risk of heart disease or stroke.

If you have had hearing loss in one ear, you should contact your doctor immediately as there is a risk of heart disease or stroke.

Special Exercises That Can Help

Although sensorineural hearing loss is common, you can save your remaining hearing by following a doctor-approved fitness program that includes cardiovascular exercise.