Copyright © Philip M. Parker, INSEAD. Terms of Use.
Definition: Atherosclerosis |
AtherosclerosisNoun1. A stage of arteriosclerosis involving fatty deposits (atheromas) inside the arterial walls. Source: WordNet 1.7.1 Copyright © 2001 by Princeton University. All rights reserved. |
| Domain | Definition |
Medicine | A. . . disease of the arteries. . . characterized by the deposition of fatty substances in and the fibrous thickening of the intima, resulting in the narrowing of the vessel passages. . Source: European Union. (references) |
Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. | |
(From Wikipedia, the free Encyclopedia)
The disease often starts in childhood and the arteries become clogged over many years, initially without symptoms.
High blood pressure, high cholesterol, smoking, diabetes, sedentary life style, hormone status and age are all risk factors for athersclerosis. These factors conspire to cause tears to the lining of the medium and large arteries, which results in fatty deposits, inflammation, and ultimately narrowing of the afflicted arteries. High blood pressure provides the shear force to produce tears in the fragile endothelium, the lining of the arteries. Cholesterol migrates into these torn sections when concentrations of LDL, or low density lipoprotein are high. Smoking has a direct toxic effect on the arterial wall, causing an inflammatory response. Exercise modifies many of these risk factors, ultimately lowering the inflammatory response of the arterial walls. Hormones, especially the presence of estrogen, has a healing effect on the arterial walls. The resident cells interpret this as an intrusion, "call for help", and inflammation results. Immune cells called monocytes circulating in the blood enter the artery wall, turn into macrophages and ingest the LDL particles, thereby turning into large "foam cells". The inflammation also causes a fibrous cap to be formed between the fatty deposits and the artery. These capped fatty deposits (called atheromas) narrow the blood vessel. This can lead to narrowing (stenosis) of the artery. The atheromas are fragile. When they rupture, a partial blockage can be quickly converted into a complete obstruction, resulting in a heart attack or stroke, depending on which artery is obstructed.
These risk factors for atherosclerosis are known:
If atherosclerosis leads to symptoms, the symptoms (such as angina) can be treated. Medicines are usually the first step in treating cardiovascular diseases. Other treatments include angioplasty procedures to open up clogged arteries and surgery, such as bypass surgery.
High blood pressure, diabetes, or high blood cholesterol can be treated as well. Lowering the blood cholesterol level can slow, stop, or even reverse the buildup of plaque. Cholesterol lowering can reduce the cholesterol content in unstable plaques to make them more stable and less prone to rupture.
Some of the text on this page has been taken from the public domain document at http://www.4woman.gov/faq/atheroscle.htm
References:
Mechanism of the disease
Risk factors
High-risk patients are given a low-fat diet, exercise and cholesterol-lowering drugs.Treatment
Source: adapted by the editor from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia under a copyleft GNU Free Documentation License (GFDL) from the article "Atherosclerosis."
Synonym: AtherosclerosisSynonym: coronary artery disease (n). (additional references) |
| Context | Synonyms within Context (source: adapted from Roget's Thesaurus). |
Disease | Ague, angina pectoris, appendicitis; Asiatic cholera, spasmodic cholera; biliary calculus, kidney stone, black death, bubonic plague, pneumonic plague; blennorrhagia, blennorrhoea; blood poisoning, bloodstroke, bloody flux, brash; breakbone fever, dengue fever, malarial fever, Q-fever; heart attack, cardiac arrest, cardiomyopathy; hardening of the arteries, arteriosclerosis, atherosclerosis; bronchocele, canker rash, cardialgia, carditis, endocarditis; cholera, asphyxia; chlorosis, chorea, cynanche, dartre; enanthem, enanthema; erysipelas; exanthem, exanthema; gallstone, goiter, gonorrhea, green sickness; grip, grippe, influenza, flu; hay fever, heartburn, heaves, rupture, hernia, hemorrhoids, piles, herpes, itch, king's evil, lockjaw; measles, mumps, polio; necrosis, pertussis, phthisis, pneumonia, psora, pyaemia, pyrosis, quinsy, rachitis, ringworm, rubeola, St. Vitus's dance, scabies, scarlatina, scarlet fever, scrofula, seasickness, struma, syntexis, tetanus, tetter, tonsillitis, tonsilitis, tracheocele, trachoma, trismus, varicella, varicosis, variola, water qualm, whooping cough; yellow fever, yellow jack. |
| Source: adapted from Roget's Thesaurus. | |
Crosswords: Atherosclerosis |
| English words defined with "atherosclerosis": alpha-lipoportein, atherogenesis, atherosclerotic ♦ beta-lipoprotein ♦ coronary occlusion ♦ familial hypercholesterolemia ♦ HDL, high-density lipoprotein, hyperbetalipoproteinemia, hypercholesteremia, hypercholesterolemia ♦ LDL, low-density lipoprotein ♦ oxidized LDL cholesterol. (references) |
| Specialty definitions using "atherosclerosis": Basal Ganglia Cerebrovascular Disease ♦ Carotid Artery Diseases, Cholesterol Esters, CVD ♦ Intracranial Arteriosclerosis ♦ Lipoproteins, LDL Cholesterol ♦ Renal Artery Obstruction. (references) |
| Domain | Title | ||
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Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. | |||
| Thumbnail | Description & Credit |  | Autopsy specimen of aorta has been opened lengthwise to reveal luminal surface studded with lesions of atherosclerosis. Credit: CDC. |
Source: pictures compiled by the editor from various references; see picture credits. | |||
| Subject | Topic | Quote |
Health | In both cases, there was less rapid progression of atherosclerosis. (references) | |
The most common blood vessel disease that causes stenosis is atherosclerosis. (references) | ||
Free radicals are thought to contribute to the development of atherosclerosis. (references) | ||
Source: compiled by the editor from ICON Group International, Inc.; see credits. | ||
| "Atherosclerosis" is generally used as a noun (singular) -- approximately 100.00% of the time. "Atherosclerosis" is used about 50 times out of a sample of 100 million words spoken or written in English. Its rank is based on over 700,000 words used in the English language. Some parts-of-speech are not covered due to the samples used by the British National Corpus. (note: percents less than one-hundredth of one percent have been omitted) |
| Parts of Speech | Percent | Usage per 100 Million Words | Rank in English |
| Noun (singular) | 100% | 50 | 48,117 |
Source: compiled by the editor from several corpora; see credits.
Expression using "atherosclerosis": Atherosclerosis and Heart Disease Prevention. Additional references. | |
| Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. |
| Language | Translations for "atherosclerosis"; alternative meanings/domain in parentheses. | ||||||||||||||||||||||
Chinese | 动脉粥 硬化. (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||
Danish | atherosklerose (arteriosclerosis), aterosklerose. (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||
Dutch | atherosclerose (atheromatosis). (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||
French | athérosclérose, souvent synonyme d'athérome;certains auteurs utilisent le terme athérosclérose pour l'oblitération plus ou moins complète des artères de moyen calibre. (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||
German | Atherosklerose (arteriosclerosis). (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||
Italian | aterosclerosi. (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||
Pig Latin | atherosclerosisay атеросклероз. (various references) aterosclerosis. (various references) атеросклероз. (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||
| # of Phoneme Matches | Pronunciation | Word(s) rhyming with "atherosclerosis" (pronounced a'therōsklerō"sus) |
| 9 | -ō s k l er ō" s u s | arteriosclerosis. |
| 8 | -s k l er ō" s u s | sclerosis. |
| 5 | -er ō" s u s | cirrhosis, heterosis. |
| 4 | -ō" s u s | acidosis, apotheosis, diagnosis, fibrosis, hypnosis, meiosis, misdiagnosis, necrosis, nephrosis, neurofibromatosis, neurosis, prognosis, psychosis, symbiosis, thrombosis, tuberculosis. |
| 3 | -s u s | amniocentesis, analysis, antithesis, archdiocese, axis, catharsis, census, colossus, consensus, crisis, dialysis, diocese, electrolysis, Genesis, geotaxis, glacis, homeostasis, hydrolysis, hypothesis, metamorphosis, morphogenesis, Narcissus, nemesis, nexus, organogenesis, photosynthesis, phototaxis, plexus, preadolescence, proboscis, prosthesis, psoriasis, psychoanalysis, psychokinesis, rhesus, synopsis, synthesis, Tarsus, telexes, Texas, thesis, urinalysis, versus. |
Source: compiled by the editor (additional references); see credits. | ||
Scrabble® Enable2K-Verified Anagrams | |
| Words within the letters "a-c-e-e-h-i-l-o-o-r-r-s-s-s-t" | |
-3 letters: clearstories, researchists. | |
-4 letters: charioteers, cholestases, cholestasis, orthoclases, researchist. | |
-5 letters: arterioles, careerists, cartelises, casseroles, charioteer, chastisers, choristers, cloistress, correlates, corsetries, crosshairs, crosstrees, earthrises, harlotries, herstories, horseraces, horsetails, hostelries, oratresses, orchestral, orchestras, orthoclase, ostracises, racehorses, rhetorical, scatheless, scholiasts, searchless, tracheoles, trehaloses, trochlears. | |
| Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. SCRABBLE® is a registered trademark. All intellectual property rights in and to the game are owned in the U.S.A and Canada by Hasbro Inc., and throughout the rest of the world by J.W. Spear & Sons Limited of Maidenhead, Berkshire, England, a subsidiary of Mattel Inc. Mattel and Spear are not affiliated with Hasbro. | |
| 1. Definition 2. Synonyms 3. Crosswords 4. Usage: Commercial | 5. Images: Photo Album 6. Quotations: Non-fiction 7. Usage Frequency 8. Expressions | 9. Translations: Modern 10. Rhymes 11. Anagrams 12. Bibliography |
Copyright © Philip M. Parker, INSEAD. Terms of Use.
