They still argue. Some swear that on rare occasions the plaque will disappear.
From the very beginning, when scientists decided to take control of atherosclerosis, they dreamed of completely getting rid of atherosclerotic plaques.
The fact is that a plaque is a small bomb that can destabilize at any time and cause a vascular catastrophe.
But nothing happened. At best, it was possible to stabilize the plaque and reduce the risk of rupture.
Then came the nineties. In medicine, cool tools have appeared for manipulating the inside of blood vessels. Ultrasonic sensors turned out to be especially interesting, which could be literally shoved into the arteries of the heart.
Previously, atherosclerotic plaques inside the arteries of the heart were studied using X-rays. In such a study, it was sometimes difficult to assess the effect of lowering blood cholesterol levels.
It happened that the patency of the artery before and after treatment remained almost unchanged. It's offensive.
Then an ultrasound transducer was inserted into the artery. Scientists immediately got promising results. It turned out that after an aggressive decrease in cholesterol levels, the lumen of the artery may indeed not change, but the cholesterol deposits in the artery wall decreased. That is, the plaque was slowly absorbed.
Macrophages
Macrophages are immune cells that sit inside an atherosclerotic plaque. They pull up there for cholesterol.
Having eaten up cholesterol, macrophages lose their mobility and get stuck inside the plaque. If they just lay there, it would not be so scary, but they work for our immunity and at any moment they can arrange inflammation in the plaque. From this, the plaque loses its stability and the case ends with a heart attack or stroke.
It turned out that if you aggressively reduce blood cholesterol levels, then macrophages begin regurgitate excess cholesterol, regain mobility, clean up debris from the plaque and creep into their business.
As a result, the plaque shrinks, and even a dead wormhole in its center can dissolve.
Time after time, scientists found shrinking plaques and rubbed their hands contentedly.
But it was not possible to completely get rid of the plaques.
In fact, especially impressive results have been obtained in hereditary diseases associated with high blood cholesterol levels. There was so much fat in the arteries that the difference before and after the intervention was very noticeable.
It is still debated whether the arteries can be completely cleaned out. In scientific articles, reports periodically appear about people in whom the arteries of the heart have become almost like new. But this is extremely rare. About the same as a spontaneous cure for a malignant tumor. That is, they write in scientific journals, but in real life you will not find this. So don't dream too much.
