Carotid plaque

The main function of arteries is to transport blood to other parts of the body. Since blood is transported in the arteries all year round, some lipid components in the blood will directly attach to the arteries. Therefore, when some people reach old age, problems will occur in their arteries. In particular, the carotid artery is the artery most prone to problems, which can lead to cardiovascular and cerebrovascular diseases. The following article introduces the causes of plaque in the carotid artery.

In layman's terms, blood flows continuously in the blood vessels all year round, and the lipid components in the blood will slowly deposit on the blood vessel walls, gradually forming plaques. Classic plaque development can be roughly divided into four stages:

1. Fat streak stage, as the name implies, lipid streaks can be seen on the blood vessel walls;

2. Fibrous plaque stage: At this time, the lipid components in the plaque are less, and the main substance is fibrous;

3. Atherosclerotic plaque stage. This name doesn’t sound very pleasant. There is already soft lipid substance in the plaque, and the plaque looks grayish yellow. However, since the surface of the atherosclerotic plaque is covered with a layer of fiber-like substance as protection, it will not cause any impact on the body.

4. During the secondary pathological stage of the plaque, the fibrous material on the surface of the plaque will be damaged, the local part of the plaque may induce thrombosis, and lipid substances may also fall off to the distal end of the blood vessel. This period is the stage when the plaque will cause harm.

Studies have found that infants' blood vessel walls will have tiny fatty streaks formed, not to mention many greasy middle-aged people. Plaques are actually a lifelong companion for each of us! But fortunately, the plaques we see during carotid artery ultrasound examinations are mainly in the fibrous plaque stage, and a small number are in the atherosclerotic plaque stage, so there is no need to be blindly nervous. According to statistics in the United States, 62% of people over 40 years old who underwent ultrasound examination had carotid artery plaques. A carotid artery ultrasound examination of healthy people aged 46-74 in Japan showed that 75.1% had carotid artery plaques. my country conducted carotid artery ultrasound examinations on 2,681 middle-aged and elderly people, and the detection rate of carotid artery plaques was 60.3%.

An ultrasound survey conducted by the General Hospital of the People's Liberation Army on 1,002 centenarians in Hainan Province showed that 100% of the centenarians had carotid atherosclerotic plaques, some of which were accompanied by carotid stenosis. If countries around the world were to evaluate the indicator of carotid artery plaque, my country would have already caught up with developed countries! From the above statistics, we can see that no matter which country, the detection rate of carotid artery plaque in the population exceeds 50%, which means that carotid artery plaque is a disease that most people will suffer from. Since it is a problem that most people will have, we can't even call it a disease, it's just a manifestation of the aging process.