How Does Atherosclerotic Coronary Artery Disease Happen?
Think of a drainage pipe under the bathroom sink. It starts off wide open. As hair, dirt and oils build up in the pipe, the water doesn’t flow as well. Eventually, unless you clean it out, it totally closes up, preventing any water from draining. Coronary artery disease works the exact same way. Blood contains lipoproteins, which carry cholesterol and triglycerides. As these lipoproteins travel, some of them stick to the walls of the arteries. Lipoproteins that have a low density (LDL) stick to the walls and are referred to as the “bad cholesterol”. High density lipoproteins (HDL) are good cholesterols that actually clean the vessels and transport the cholesterol back to the liver to be metabolized. The “plaque” that sticks to the inside walls of the vessels cause the vessels to narrow. In addition, the plaque is very sticky. Platelets in the blood get trapped on the plaque, causing further narrowing and even blood clots to form. When the artery completely occludes, the part of the hea
