Correlation 6: Atherosclerosis

See how small the remaining lumen of the vessel shown here has become. There is also a deposit of calcium (the blue area at the lower right). This is a coronary artery, and this patient is at risk for an acute myocardial infarction.

Sometimes called "hardening of the arteries" atherosclerosis is a progressive process in which the lumen of a muscular artery becomes narrowed through the deposition of lipid material. Increased levels of lipids, particularly cholesterol, contribute to the development of atherosclerosis. Narrowing of arteries reduces blood flow to tissues distal to the artery. This may cause the cells to become smaller (atrophy) if they have time to adapt, or the cells may die.