What are hardened arteries?

Answer 1

The build-up of cells, fat, cholesterol and other substances - together known as plaque - in the arteries can lead to blood flow being blocked, preventing supply to the heart and brain.
The inner walls of the arteries become narrow because of a build-up of plaque, causing hardening known as atherosclerosis.

It is a slow, progressive disease which may begin in childhood. Why it starts is unknown but it may be due to high cholesterol and triglyceride levels in the blood, high blood pressure and smoking.

Deposits build up on the artery wall, and may stimulate the cells in the wall to produce further substances adding further layers of blockage.

Fat builds up around and within these cells causing narrowing, or stenosis.

Thickened

Dr Tony Gershlick, consultant cardiologist and honorary senior lecturer at Leicester University, said: "One way of looking at it is as if the coronary arteries are bits of hollow spaghetti.

"If you look at one 2 or 3cm portion of that spaghetti where the wall has thickened, then the amount of blood you can get down that spaghetti is reduced."

The inner layer of the artery wall thickens considerably, reducing the blood flow and starving the heart and/or brain of oxygen. A blood clot can also form, blocking off the artery completely.

The arteries of the leg are often affected, as well as abdominal arteries and those near the pelvis - iliac arteries. This is called peripheral arterial disease.

Pain

The first sign of peripheral arterial disease is pain in the calf muscles, thighs or buttocks when walking or exercising. As it progresses, the pain may become continuous and prevent sleeping.

Narrowing of the arteries supplying blood to the heart can cause angina or heart attack.

Blockage of arteries to the neck can interfere with the flow of blood to the brain and may cause stroke. If untreated, gangrene of the leg can result.

Dr Gershlick added: "It is to some extent a disease of ageing. Many people over the age of 60 will have some degree, irrespective of risk factors, of coronary artery narrowing."

Risk factors include smoking, high cholesterol levels, diabetes and obesity. Family history and high blood pressure are also implicated and a combination of factors worsens a person's chances of developing atherosclerosis.

Answer 2

Hardened arteries is a medical condition known as Ateriosclerosis.

Cholesterol & Low Density Lipoprotein (LDLs aka bad cholesterol) will start to form fatty streaks on the walls of the artery. In time, these fatty streaks harden as well as further collect. Therefore your arteries gradually get narrower. Kind of like gunk that collects on your pipes at home.

The danger of this is that less blood flows into the tissues and the narrowness of the arteries may lead to a blockage. If this blockage occurs, blood flow stops and tissues die.

If this happens in the heart, heart muscle dies and this is commonly know as a heart attack. If it occurs in the brain, it's known as a stroke.

Answer 3

Atherosclerosis is a condition in which fatty material collects along the walls of arteries. This fatty material thickens, hardens, and may eventually block the arteries.
Atherosclerosis is just one of several types of "arterio"-sclerosis, which is characterized by thickening and hardening of artery walls, but the two terms are often used to mean the same thing.
Please see the webpages for more details on Atherosclerosis / Arteriosclerosis.

Answer 4

thickening of the lining of the arteries (the intima).

The arteries are blood vessels that supply blood, oxygen and nutrients, to the body from the heart. Atherosclerosis is a condition leading to narrow, hardened arteries so that there is insufficient blood flow to satisfy the needs of the tissue in question.

Those parts of the body most affected by this disease suffer the consequences of an inadequate blood supply, namely poor function, tissue damage or death.

There are different symptoms depending on where in the body the vascular disease occurs. It most commonly affects the arteries of the heart, brain and legs.

Answer 5

My mum had Hardened arteries she had a balloon type thing put in to open them its to do with the blood flowing through the arteries to the heart.

Answer 6

Hardened arteries are ateries in your body (the ones that carry blood to/from the heart) that have been hardened or clogged by fatty deposits, thus making it harder for the blood to flow.

Answer 7

think of the plumbing in your central heating system the pipes get furred up with calcium and other deposits,the system struggles to keep the temperature up to standard you are forever having to bleed the system to get rid of air locks and get the radiators hot again. Well that is what happens when your arteries harden. Your pipes get clogged up your blood pressure rises as your heart struggles to pump the blood through the pipes and eventually unless you get treatment one of the pipes ( arteries ) bursts with either stroke if in the brain or heart attack if in the heart.

Answer 8

Corellation does not prove causation. Old age, by itself, does not cause hardening of the arteries. There are cultures where grandparents and grandchildren have the same blood pressure. Atherosclerosis is caused by a lifetime of eating cholesterol and fat. It starts in childhood and takes several decades to build up enough to cause things like heart attacks and strokes. Cholesterol and fat only occur in animal based foods. Plants have almost no cholesterol and no fat, only oil, which is liquid at body temperature and just washes away. People who eat only plant based foods are immune to heart attacks and strokes and nearly immune to our most common cancers, of the breast, prostate and colon. Man the wise is the only vegetarian creature that ever invented cheeseburgers, obesity or heart attacks. Only humans and their pets are obese. Did you ever see an overweight wild animal?

Answer 9

I think it's a sign of being unhealthy. Your arteries go hard when you have a poor diet or do not do enough (i think).

Why not try looking in an online medical dictionary, you are bound to find the answer there.

Answer 10

LDL stuck on the banks of arteries, jamming the blood flow, causing difficulties in heart
to tik and pain. There's been a nice remedy,now, called Chelation (using EDTA) in combination with X-plaque. See both in the Net.This liquid, infused in veins, dissolves the calcium and drops plaques into flow. The liquid then,instantly, dissolves plaques!

Ciao.......John-John.