Coronary Heart Disease - Causes - Causes
Plaque buildup
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Coronary Heart Disease - Causes
buildup in the is called atherosclerosis. When this buildup happens in the heart's arteries over many years, the arteries become narrower and harden, reducing -rich blood flow to the heart. The result is coronary artery disease.
Obstructive coronary artery disease means the heart’s arteries are more than 50% blocked. The blood flow may eventually be completely blocked in one or more of the three large coronary arteries. In nonobstructive coronary artery disease, the large arteries may be narrowed by plaque, but not as much as they are in obstructive disease.
Small plaques can also develop in the small blood vessels in the heart, causing coronary microvascular disease.
Problems affecting the blood vessels
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Coronary Heart Disease - Causes
Problems with how the heart’s blood vessels work can cause coronary heart disease. For example, the blood vessels may not respond to signals that the heart needs more oxygen-rich blood. Normally, the blood vessels widen to allow more blood flow when a person is physically active or under stress. But if you have coronary heart disease, the size of these blood vessels may not change, or the blood vessels may even narrow.
The cause of these problems is not fully clear. But it may involve:
- Damage or injury to the walls of the arteries or tiny blood vessels from chronic , high blood pressure, or diabetes.
- Molecular changes that are part of the normal aging process. Molecular changes affect the way and are controlled inside cells.
In nonobstructive coronary artery disease, damage to the inner walls of the coronary arteries can cause them to spasm (suddenly tighten). This is called vasospasm. The spasm causes the arteries to narrow temporarily and blocks blood flow to the heart.
These problems can also happen in the tiny blood vessels in the heart, causing coronary microvascular disease (sometimes called coronary syndrome X). Coronary microvascular disease can happen with or without obstructive or nonobstructive coronary artery disease.
Learn more about the important role that inflammation, which is the body’s reaction to an injury, plays in the development of coronary heart disease.
Plaque can attract and white blood cells to the area of buildup in the large coronary arteries, causing inflammation. Inflammation can also prevent the small arteries of the heart from responding to the physical, electrical, and chemical signals that tell the arteries when the heart needs more oxygen-rich blood. This can lead to coronary microvascular disease. Research suggests that inflammation may also reduce levels of (sometimes called “good” cholesterol).