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Questions and Answers
What is the initiating event that leads to early atherosclerotic disease?
The fatty streak is characterized by the accumulation of foam cells.
True
What role do macrophages play in the progression of atherosclerosis?
They secrete growth factors and scavenge cholesterol.
In advanced atherosclerosis, an atheroma is characterized by a mass of extracellular cholesterol and _____ cells.
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Match the following terms with their definitions:
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Which type of plaque is most likely to ulcerate and embolize?
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Neovasculature plays a role in supplying plaque with necessary nutrients and immune cells.
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What is the significance of smooth muscle cell migration in atherosclerosis?
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Which of the following is a common location for atherosclerotic plaques to form?
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Intermittent claudication occurs during rest.
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What is the primary cause behind ischemic rest pain?
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Atherosclerosis leads to the formation of ___ which can cause blockage in blood vessels.
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Match the following terms with their definitions:
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What is a characteristic finding in patients with occlusive disease?
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Calcification of plaques is a common feature in advanced atherosclerosis.
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Which stage of lower extremity atherosclerosis involves significant decrease in ankle pressure during and after exercise?
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Ischemic pain typically occurs in ___ muscle groups and is relieved by stopping exercise.
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What occurs when atherosclerotic plaque ruptures?
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What is the typical age of onset for Takayasu's Arteritis?
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The dissection in a dissecting aneurysm separates the layers of the arterial wall by a column of blood.
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What is the condition known as Giant Cell Arteritis primarily affecting?
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A _______________ is characterized by a rupture in the wall of the artery resulting in a loss of blood.
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Match each type of aneurysm with its description:
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Which of the following is NOT a clinical manifestation of Giant Cell Arteritis?
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What is the main risk factor associated with Thromboangiitis Obliterans?
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True aneurysms typically occur in the abdominal aorta, thoracic aorta, and popliteal artery.
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In Takayasu’s Arteritis, the symptoms related to stenosis may include ________________.
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Match the symptom with its corresponding disorder:
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Which of the following is a common complication of an aneurysm?
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What are the 'six P's' commonly associated with acute arterial disease?
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A saccular aneurysm remains connected to the arterial lumen.
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The inflammation in Giant Cell Arteritis primarily affects the __________ layer of arteries.
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Study Notes
Flow
- Normal flow is 151 ml/min
- Post exercise flow is 734 ml/min
Acute Arterial Disease
-
Sudden cessation of blood flow to an extremity
-
Causes:
- Intrinsic obstruction
- Formation of a thrombus
- Impaction of a thrombotic embolus
- Impaction of an atheromatous embolus
- Catheter induced thrombus
- Extrinsic obstruction
- Blunt or penetrating injury
- Intimal tear or dissection
- Proximity injury
- Compression by a neoplastic mass
- Venous outflow blockage
- Intrinsic obstruction
-
If collateral circulation isn't well developed, acute ischemia will occur
-
Muscle necrosis may occur within 4 to 6 hours
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Key symptoms:
- Pain
- Paralysis
- Paresthesia
- Pallor
- Pulselessness
- Poikilothermia
Aneurysmal Disease
-
Abnormal dilation of an artery wall
-
Causes:
- Complication of atherosclerosis
- Congenital defects
- Infection (syphilis)
- Trauma
- Iatrogenic (caused by medical procedure)
True Aneurysm
- Develops due to a defect in the tunic media of the artery wall
- The artery wall dilates but remains intact
- Two types:
- Fusiform Aneurysm
- Circumferential dilation where the wall balloons on all sides
- More commonly associated with atherosclerosis
- Saccular Aneurysm
- Sac-like out pouching on one side of the arterial wall
- Remains connected to the arterial lumen
- More associated with infection or congenital development
- Fusiform Aneurysm
False Aneurysm (Pseudoaneurysm)
- A rupture in the artery wall
- Results in blood loss from the artery
- Blood flows out of the wound and clots in the tissues
- The wall of the aneurysm is thrombus
Common Sites
- True aneurysms are commonly found:
- Abdominal aorta (below level of the renal arteries)
- Thoracic aorta
- Popliteal artery
Clinical Manifestations
- Often asymptomatic
- Often detected during a vascular exam as a palpable, pulsatile mass
- Rupture of the aneurysm is often catastrophic
- The aneurysm is a site for thrombus formation
- The thrombus can be the source of thromboemboli
Thrombo-emboli
- Blue toe syndrome
Dissection (Dissecting Aneurysm)
- Separation of the layers of the arterial wall by a column of blood
- Creates a false arterial lumen which communicates with the true lumen via a tear in the intima
- The dissection usually extends along one side of the artery
- Dissection can partially or totally occlude any vessel in the path of the dissection by separating the vessel orifice from the true lumen
Arteritis
- Inflammation and damage to arterial walls
- Common types:
- Giant cell (temporal)arteritis
- Takayasu’s arteritis
- Thromboangiitis obliterans (Buerger’s Disease)
- Polyarteritis nodosa
- Kawasaki Disease
Giant Cell Arteritis (Temporal Arteritis)
- Inflammation of the arterial wall affecting the thoracic aorta, large branches of the aorta and extracranial branches of the carotid arteries
- The intimal layer is thickened, with concentric narrowing and occlusion of the lumen
- May be localized, multifocal or widespread
Giant Cell Arteritis (Temporal Arteritis)
- Women are more affected than men
- Mean age of onset is 70 years
- About 40 – 60% of patients have polymyalgia rheumatica
- Key symptoms:
- Headaches
- Visual disturbances
- Temporal artery tenderness
- Pain in jaw muscles
- Fever, weight loss, malaise
- Fatigue
- ESR and C-reactive protein are elevated
Takayasu’s Arteritis
- Inflammatory disease affecting the aorta, it's branches and pulmonary arteries
- Etiology/cause is unknown; may be related to immune response
- May cause arterial stenosis, occlusion, or aneurysms
- Rare disease
- More common in women and Asians
- Young onset (15 – 30 years)
Takayasu’s Arteritis
- Key symptoms:
- Systemic phase
- Fever, fatigue, weight loss
- Non-specific aches and pains
- Tenderness over affected vessels
- Elevated ESR
- Occlusive phase
- Claudication
- Stroke symptoms
- Pulselessness
- Bruits
- Systemic phase
Thromboangiitis Obliterans (Buerger’s Disease)
- Inflammatory condition affecting small and medium sized arteries of upper and lower extremity
- Produces varying degrees of obstruction
- Inflammation is often accompanied by thrombosis, fibrosis and scarring
- More common in men, ages 20 – 40
- Almost always associated with smoking
- More common in Asian rather than Western countries
Thromboangiitis Obliterans (Buerger’s Disease)
- Key symptoms:
- Hands or feet may be pale, red or bluish
- Hands or feet may be cold
- Pain in the hands and feet
- Acute, severe
- Burning or tingling
- Often occurring at rest
- Intermittent claudication
- Skin changes or ulcers on hands or feet
Arteriospastic Disorders
- Raynaud’s Syndrome
- Acrocyanosis
- Livedo reticularis
- Cold hypersensitivity
Raynaud’s Syndrome
- An episode of constriction of small arteries or arterioles in the extremities resulting in characteristic color changes in the digits (usually fingers)
- This occurs in response to exposure to cold or emotional stress
- Attacks are usually completed in 30 to 60 minutes but may last until the person rewarms hands
Raynaud’s Syndrome
- Color changes
- Pallor
- Cyanosis
- Rubor
Raynaud’s Syndrome
- Epidemiology
- Up to 30% of women and 25% of men report a history of Raynaud’s type symptoms
- 70% of persons seeking treatment are women
- Incidence is higher in cold environments
- Occupational incidence
- Pneumatic drill (jack hammer) operators
- Cold storage and workers
Raynaud’s Syndrome
- Pathophysiology
- Obstructive Raynaud’s (Secondary Raynaud’s; Raynaud’s Phenomenon)
- Pre-existing arterial occlusive disease in palmar and/or digital arteries
- The greater the amount of occlusion, the more pronounced the incidence of Raynaud’s
- Vasospastic Raynaud’s (Primary Raynaud’s; Raynaud’s Disease)
- Normal blood flow in digits at room temperature
- Heightened physiological response to cold exposure
- Idiopathic
- Obstructive Raynaud’s (Secondary Raynaud’s; Raynaud’s Phenomenon)
Raynaud’s Syndrome
- Clinical Manifestations
- Mild pain
- Numbness
- Ischemic digital ulceration in obstructive Raynaud’s
Early Atherosclerotic disease
- Endothelial injury
- Initiating event
- Attract and activate macrophages
- Deposition of LDL into intima
- Recruitment of lymphocytes, monocytes
Initial Injury
- Causes alteration in metabolism of endothelial cells
- Increased permeability
- Secretion of procoagulants
- Stimulation of endothelial cell reproduction
- Secretion of vasoactive substances and growth factors
Early Atherosclerotic Disease
- Role of endothelial cells
- Secrete growth factors
- Secrete vasoactive agents
- Role of platelets
- Secrete growth factors
- Adhesion-aggregation reaction
- Secrete vasoactive agents
Inflammatory process
- Monocytes in intima become macrophages
- Role of macrophages
- Secrete growth factors
- Scavenge cholesterol
- Growth factors attract smooth muscle cells and cause them to proliferate
- Macrophages penetrate endothelium and accumulate lipids, become foam cells
- “Fatty streak” appears
Fatty Streak
- Earliest manifestation, often seen in children
- Characterized by the accumulation of foam cells
- Lesions are flat or slightly raised “yellow” streaks oriented in the direction of flow
- Nonobstructive and subclinical
Atheroma Thickening
- Migration/proliferation of smooth muscle cells from media
- Neovasculature supplies plaque
- Fibrous Plaque
- Myointimal cells
- Proliferate
- Secrete matrix
- Form fibrous cap
- Loss of endothelium
- Myointimal cells
Atheroma
- Characteristic of more advanced disease
- A mass of extracellular cholesterol and foam cells surrounded by a fibrous connective tissue cap
- Fatty plaque
- Soft, lipid rich pool of extracellular cholesterol
- Most likely to ulcerate and embolize
- Fibrofatty plaque
- Solid, composed mainly of collagen and smooth muscle
- Fatty plaque
Advanced Atherosclerosis
- Central core of macrophage foam cells
- Extracellular lipid deposits
- Cell necrosis
- Scar tissue formation (fibrosis)
- Macrophage lysis
- Intraplaque hemorrhage
- Rupture of fibrous cap
- Plaque ulceration
- Thrombus formation
- Embolization
- Calcification
- Proportion of LDL/HDL increases 5:1
- Monocyte migration into subendothelial space
Atherosclerosis
- Development
- While atherosclerosis is a diffuse disease, plaques typically are focal
- Common locations are bifurcations and branch points
- Carotid bifurcation (carotid bulb/proximal ICA)
- Aortic bifurcation into CIA’s
- Distal SFA (in adductor canal)
- Most common site of atherosclerotic develop in the LE’s
- Common femoral bifurcation into SFA, PFA
- UE’s – Subclavian artery origin
Clinical Aspects of Peripheral Arterial Disease
- Pathophysiology
- When a large artery is obstructed, blood flow into and blood pressure in smaller arteries is reduced
- If oxygen demand of tissues exceeds the ability of arteries to supply oxygenated blood, ischemia results
- An approximately 50% reduction in vessel diameter is required before there is clinically significant reduction in blood flow
- Amount of ischemia depends upon extent of collateral blood supply
Clinical Aspects of Peripheral Arterial Disease
- Intermittent Claudication
- AKA: Functional limb ischemia
- Pain that occurs after a certain amount of exercise and is relieved by rest
- Blood flow is normal in resting limb but cannot be increased in response to exercise
- Pain is always experienced in a functional muscle group
- It is reproducibly precipitated by a consistent amount of exercise
- It is promptly relieved by stopping the exercise
Clinical Aspects of Peripheral Arterial Disease
- Ischemic Rest Pain
- Persistent, severe ache or gnawing pain
- Often occurs at night and persists for hours at a time
- First occurs when the foot is elevated; usually localized in digits/foot
- Can often be relieved by dangling foot or walking
- This condition implies that blood flow to the foot is below that necessary to meet normal metabolism
- Severe ischemia and sensory nerve damage
- If left untreated, it generally leads to tissue necrosis (gangrene)
Clinical Aspects of Peripheral Arterial Disease
- Pain of ischemic neuropathy
- Occurs late in the course of the disease
- Pain is associated with the distribution of sensory nerve fibers in the extremity
Clinical Aspects of Peripheral Arterial Disease
- Coldness and cold sensitivity
- Persons with occlusive disease often complain of coolness in the extremities
- The foot may be cold to touch
- More sensitive to exposure to cold
Clinical Aspects of Peripheral Arterial Disease
- Impaired arterial pulsations
- Diminished or even loss of palpable pulse is a common finding in occlusive disease
- Particularly in the foot
Clinical Aspects of Peripheral Arterial Disease
- Color changes
- The ischemic extremity is often pale or cyanotic, particularly when elevated (elevation pallor)
- Color may return when extremity is lowered (dependent rubor)
Clinical Aspects of Peripheral Arterial Disease
- Ulceration and gangrene
- Lesions may occur spontaneously or be induced by trauma
- Ulcers develop on tips of digits and between toes
- Secondary infections can lead to abscess formation and gangrene in the extremity
- Gangrene is a black, foul-smelling area of necrotic tissue, adjacent to living tissue
Clinical Aspects of Peripheral Arterial Disease
- Skin changes
- Thickened and deformed nails
- Loss of hair on extremity
Classification of Lower Extremity Atherosclerosis
- Stage 1
- Pathological changes in arteries
- Patient asymptomatic
- May have decreased pedal pulses
- With exercise – mild decrease in ankle pressure
- Stage 2
- Intermittent claudication
- Asymptomatic at rest
- Intermittent claudication
- Significant decrease in ankle pressure during and following exercise.
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