The leading cause of coronary heart disease is atherosclerosis (hardening of the arteries), which causes reduced blood flow through the coronary arteries. The degenerative processes that take place in large and medium-sized arterial vessels lead to a narrowing of the vessel cross-section (lumen) and thus to a reduced supply to the downstream organs or even a complete lack of blood supply to the associated supply area. Infarcts (interruption of vascular nutrition) occur in the flow area of the vessels and tissue dies; in the case of coronary arteries, it is the heart muscle that goes under.
Elevated blood lipids as a cause of coronary heart disease
Coronary heart disease is caused by arteriosclerosis (hardening of the arteries), somewhat inconsistently also known as atherosclerosis. Although in the vernacular of a calcification the speech is it concerns less lime deposits than deposits of fats and blood components at the arterial inner wall. An arteriosclerosis develops usually creeping over years and makes long no complaints.
If the blood vessel is blocked to such an extent that the blood flow is impaired, symptoms occur. Elevated blood lipids play a major role in the development of arteriosclerosis, which leads to coronary heart disease. Cholesterol, one of the major components of blood lipids, is an important component of the plaques that develop in arteriosclerosis and increasingly constrict the vessel.
Nowadays, however, cholesterol is no longer cholesterol, but a distinction is made between two types of cholesterol. The HDL (high density lipoprotein) and the LDL (low density lipoprotein). The LDL is the bad cholesterol and the HDL the good cholesterol.
Therefore, if there are elevated cholesterol levels in the blood, a differentiation between these two types should always be made in order to better assess whether the bad cholesterol is actually present in too high a quantity. Since it is known that high LDL values are an important risk factor for the development of coronary heart disease, there are certain recommendations for blood lipid reduction. Patients who have not yet developed coronary artery disease but exceed a certain LDL level should take measures that will help to lower their LDL levels.
These measures include a change in diet and, if necessary, taking cholesterol-lowering tablets. The more Vorerkrankungen the patient with increased blood fats has, the rather a cholesterinsenkende therapy should be begun. Patients who already suffer from coronary heart disease should usually always take cholesterol-lowering tablets.
Elevated blood lipids are a major risk factor in the development of coronary heart disease. Therefore, regular blood tests should be performed, including blood lipids. If further factors of risk for the development of a koronaren heart illness are present or the LDL values are very high, a medicamentous cholesterinsenkende therapy should be discussed with the family doctor. Atherosclerosis (hardening of the arteries) is thus an important factor in the reduced supply of oxygen to the heart muscle cells or the reduced blood flow to the heart. This state of undersupply of oxygen to the heart is called coronary insufficiency and constitutes the disease “coronary heart disease”: The coronary arteries (coronaries) are no longer able to ensure sufficient flow (perfusion) of the vessels supplying the heart (coronary insufficiency).
