Touch both sides of your neck with both hands. Have you felt the powerful pulsation of the two blood vessels? It is the carotid artery, which is mainly responsible for transporting blood and nutrition to the brain, and is also the "window" to monitor systemic blood vessels. Once carotid atherosclerotic plaques appear, it means that the systemic blood vessels are gradually hardening, and the risk of myocardial infarction and cerebral infarction and will also increase accordingly.
The existence of carotid artery is to provide the brain with fresh blood, oxygen, to maintain normal operation of the human body. In recent years, with the improvement of medical technology in my country, many people have discovered carotid artery plaque problems when checking the carotid artery.
What is carotid artery plaque?
Carotid artery plaque is atherosclerosis of carotid artery and is a manifestation of systemic artery sclerosis. Plaques are more likely to form in this part of the carotid artery.
Because the carotid artery is affected by the blood flow, especially at the bifurcation of the internal and external carotid arteries, the impact force is greater, causing long-term high-speed blood flow, causing chronic damage to the arterial endometrium, causing calcium, lipids, cholesterol hyperplasia, and deposition, and the deposition and hyperplasia of the smooth muscle tissue and collagen tissue of the middle membrane, causing the formation of sclerotic plaques.
[Consequences of carotid artery plaque]
If the plaque formed is large and the lumen is narrow and severe, it can cause insufficient blood supply to , causing corresponding cerebral ischemia symptoms. In severe cases, it can cause stroke , that is, cerebral infarction, resulting in hemiplegia , aphasia , blurred vision or blackness. In addition, unstable plaques can cause distal vascular embolism under the impact of blood flow, resulting in insufficient cerebral blood supply and cerebral infarction .
What is the cause of carotid artery plaque formation?
, age
The blood vessel walls will be in good condition when they are young, but as they age, especially after the age of 40, the possibility of plaques will further increase.
, smoking
Smoking will destroy the endothelial cells of the arterial wall , increasing the possibility of arteriosclerosis plaque formation. Once formed, the progress of formation will increase, so smoking is the first priority.
, Hypertensive
Hypertensive patients with high blood pressure, and the arteries are impacted by the hypertensive blood flow for a long time, causing damage to the endarterial membrane. Therefore, Hyperlipid is more likely to be deposited on the artery wall, eventually forming carotid artery plaques.
, hyperlipidemia
The blood volume of patients with hyperlipidemia is high, which is easy to deposit on the inner wall of blood vessels, thereby forming carotid artery plaques.
, diabetes
diabetic patients' bodies are prone to problems during fat metabolism. The protein , which is responsible for the blood to transport fat, is prone to denaturation. During the process of transporting fat, these fats are easily deposited in the inner wall of blood vessels, thus forming fat plaques.
diagnosed carotid plaques. Is there still a chance to reverse it?
As time goes by, carotid artery plaques will gradually aggravate. As long as the correct treatment is adopted, the reversal of carotid artery plaques may also be achieved.
In fact, carotid artery plaques are not a special pathological disease. They are just clumps formed by some lipid substances present in the inner wall of blood vessels. They are mainly caused by the deposition of triglyceride cholesterol, etc., which enter the blood vessel and accumulate excessively, and fail to clean up these lipid substances in time.
However, with more and more fat, the number of phagocytosis cells is insufficient and the machine cannot operate, and eventually plaques will form.
carotid plaques may be reversible, but these conditions must be met:
. The plaque itself is softer
statin The essence of reversing plaques is to tighten and harden the plaques, so they may have obvious reversal effects on soft plaques with larger lipid core and smaller density. The already larger and harder plaques have no space to shrink, so they can only delay the progress of the plaque.
. The cholesterol level is not high.
The formation of plaques is related to the cholesterol level in our blood. If the free "bad cholesterol" level in our blood is relatively high, it will be difficult to reverse it. Therefore, it is necessary to meet the "bad cholesterol" level below 1.8mmol/L to be effective. Some people have poor blood vessel health, and even lower than 1.4mmol/L.
. Take the medication
If the plaque is softer, statins can press the plaque tightly and hardly, so that it will not affect blood circulation. Most plaques can be stable and no longer develop or develop rapidly; a small number of plaques can even shrink.
. If the carotid artery plaque cannot be reversed, there is no need to worry too much
If there is no reversal, we first use statins in addition to lowering blood lipids. The more important purpose is to anti-inflammatory and stabilize plaques, thereby reducing the risk of plaque rupture and thrombosis, which can greatly avoid the occurrence of myocardial infarction and cerebral infarction.
Secondly, even if the plaque "disappears", it is likely to be temporary. After all, as the human body ages, atherosclerosis will gradually worsen, and the plaques will still appear again.
Therefore, as long as you take the medicine reasonably as per the doctor's advice and actively control the risk factors, for small and stable carotid artery plaques, even if there is no reversal, there is generally no major problem. Regular review of carotid artery ultrasound.
extension---What should patients with carotid artery plaque pay attention to in their lives?
. Don’t turn your head suddenly
patients with carotid artery plaque must pay attention in their lives. Never turn your head suddenly in a short period of time. Although this action seems simple, this will cause the carotid artery to be suddenly compressed, and people will also induce endometrial rupture, and eventually stroke.
. Don’t sneeze hard
Carotid artery plaque patients must not sneeze suddenly, because the pressure is too high when sneezing, this pressure will impact people’s carotid artery. If the carotid artery plaque is very large and just presses on an important position, then rupture is likely to occur under this pressure.
, especially when unstable plaques appear in the carotid artery, it will cause plaques to rupture and thrombosis. The thrombus will circulate into the skull along with the blood, causing cerebral embolism problems. So please control your strength when sneezing.
. Adjust diet
In daily life, please eat more fresh fruits and vegetables, especially onions, which contain a large amount of sulfide, which can help dilate blood vessels in the body, help lower blood pressure, and avoid arteriosclerosis; and the prostaglandin A contained in onions can also help protect blood vessel elasticity.
, and slack cortin can promote the excretion of lipid substances in the blood vessels, thereby making the blood vessels loose. Eggplant is also a good choice. The vitamin P contained in it can help protect the endothelium of the blood vessels and delay the aging rate.
, Avoid cold neck
In daily life, the air conditioner and fan in summer cannot blow directly to the neck. After all, cold neck will quickly contract the carotid artery, stimulating unstable plaques rupture, and finally generate thrombus, which will circulate with the blood, and then cause cerebral infarction.And sudden contraction of blood vessels will lead to further increase in blood pressure, which will lead to the occurrence of myocardial infarction and stroke problems.
