What is an atherosclerosis?

➢ Atherosclerosis affects the elastic arteries and the most important muscular arteries: larger ones (aorta, coronary trunks, renal arteries, extra-parenchymal cerebral arteries, etc.). ➢ In areas of turbulence, the following are particularly prevalent: bifurcations, bends, birth of collaterals (ostia) and artery segments "attached" to the skeleton (e.g. subdiaphragmatic aorta). ➢ According to the W.H.O. (1957), atheroma is a "variable association of reshuffling of the intima of large and medium caliber arteries, consisting of in a segmental accumulation of lipids, complex carbohydrates, blood and blood products, fibrous tissue, and calcium deposits, all accompanied by changes in the media."