The highlighted is what probably happened to me.
You can see a video of how plaque forms here:
Inflammation In Atherosclerotic Plaque Formation
http://www.azonano.com/news.aspx?newsID=28251
Amber Doiron, assistant professor of bioengineering, says current
methods of assessing atherosclerosis — commonly known as hardening of
the arteries — are not terribly accurate. Some 30 percent of deaths
worldwide can be attributed to the disease, which occurs when fat,
cholesterol and other particles form hard structures called plaques in
the walls of arteries.
“It’s really a guessing game right now,” she says. “Doctors use factors
like blood pressure and cholesterol level to get an idea of a patient’s
risk. Then they use plaque size as a general measure of whether a
person has the disease. But there’s a fairly poor correlation between
plaque size and heart attack or stroke.”
Doiron, who has an interest in molecular imaging as well as expertise
in nanoscience, wants to help physicians do a better job of identifying
which plaques are cause for concern.
She and a Temple University colleague recently received a two-year,
$418,000 grant from the National Institute of Biomedical Imaging and
Bioengineering to support this project. It’s a notable success in part
because this was Doiron’s first National Institutes of Health grant
proposal.
The researchers will use a combination of polymers and
superparamagnetic iron oxide nanoparticles for the study. The
nanoparticle is sensitive to oxidative stress, which occurs in
atherosclerosis and has been linked to patients who have a higher
prevalence of heart attack and stroke. Using an MRI scan, the
researchers will be able to see how active the nanoparticle is, which
will indicate whether the plaque is stable.
“A stroke or a heart attack doesn’t necessarily come when a plaque
fully blocks the flow of blood through an artery,” Doiron explains.
“What happens is the plaque ruptures and the gunk that underlies the
plaque is exposed to blood and a clot forms. The clot builds quickly —
on an hour time scale as opposed to over years — and the clot can grow
there until it blocks flow, or it can dislodge and block flow somewhere
else. Most heart attacks do not occur from a full blockage of plaque. It
happens because the plaque bursts. Same thing with strokes. That’s why
size isn’t necessarily indicative of how dangerous a plaque is.”
The discovery of a molecule or a cell type that indicated which plaques
are safe and which ones are dangerous would be a huge breakthrough,
Doiron says. She thinks oxidative stress may be such an indicator.
“Atherosclerosis is an incredibly complex disease that progresses over
decades,” Doiron says. “It’s hard to tell who’s walking around with
plaques that are stable, relatively safe, and who has plaques that may
cause a heart attack tomorrow. For some patients, the first sign of
trouble is a heart attack.”
For more information, visit: Discover-e.
Source: http://www2.binghamton.edu/
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