Hello! I have been a doctor for 21 years. My name is Georgy Olegovich Sapego. In this article, I'll talk about the blockage of blood vessels with cholesterol crystals.
Aorta
Atherosclerosis begins in the aorta. This is the largest artery in our body. Lumps of cholesterol can drop out of atherosclerotic plaques of the aorta into the bloodstream, which clog the lumen of small arteries like rust in the water supply. Legs, intestines, kidneys sometimes suffer from this.
The arteries that supply the brain with blood leave the aorta at the very beginning, so cholesterol usually does not hit the head.
We have already discussed arterial thrombosis, which occurs when an atherosclerotic plaque ruptures. The trick is that during the rupture of the plaque, cholesterol crystals can literally fall out of it. They, like blood clots, will fly away with the blood stream and easily block the arteries further downstream.
It will all fly into small arteries
Such a mess happens when cholesterol crystals block blood flow in arteries less than 200 micrometers in diameter. If many of these small vessels stop working, then incomprehensible problems will begin in different parts of our body.
Crystals are often small
There was a case when scientists studied debris clogging up the renal artery. It turned out that there were thousands of cholesterol crystals measuring 20-40 micrometers. This is exactly the diameter of the smallest branch of the renal artery. They also found hundreds of pieces over 100 micrometers in size.
Usually men over 50 suffer
This happens if they have terry atherosclerosis, which was picked by various intravascular procedures. The average age for these problems is around 66.
For some reason, it happens more often in people with fair skin. It is suspected that blemishes are simply more visible in people with white skin.
To surely get yourself such a problem, it is advisable to smoke more, not to treat high blood pressure and to grow thick plaques in the thoracic aorta. Somewhere in 50 - 60% of cases, crystals of cholesterol in the blood appeared by themselves without picking the vessels with instruments.
On the skin, it appears in a third of cases.
It is clear that chunks of cholesterol clog small vessels in different organs, but since they are small, it can be difficult to figure it out. But in the skin clogged small arteries instantly appear blue. Livedo reticulation, blue toes and minor bleeding under the nails may appear. Have you seen tiny splinter-like hemorrhages under your nails? This is how they look.
How to prevent
It is necessary to monitor blood pressure, cholesterol and blood sugar levels, do not smoke and do not run from doctors.
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