Arteriosclerosis is the thickening, hardening and loss of elasticity of the walls of arteries. This process gradually restricts the blood flow to organs and tissues and can cause severe health risks brought on by atherosclerosis, which is a specific form of arteriosclerosis caused by the buildup of fatty plaques, cholesterol, and some other substances in the vessel.Atherosclerosis is a specific form of arteriosclerosis in which an artery-wall thickens as a result of invasion and accumulation of white blood cells and proliferation of intimal-smooth-muscle cell creating a plaque.

Therefore, atherosclerosis is a syndrome affecting arterial blood vessels due to a chronic inflammatory response of white blood cells in the walls of arteries. This is promoted by low-density lipoproteins (LDL) without adequate removal of fats and cholesterol by functional high-density lipoproteins (HDL). It is commonly referred to as a stiffness of the arteries. It is caused by the formation of plaques within the arteries.The plaque is divided into three distinct components:

1. The atheroma, which is the nodular accumulation of a soft, flaky, yellowish material at the center of large plaques.2. Underlying areas of cholesterol crystals3. Calcification at the outer base of older or more advanced lesions.

If we know some signs of atherosclerosis, we can prevent it by strengthen self-protection and monitoring. If you worry about your own atherosclerosis, you should check in hospital. Prophylaxis is better a lot than cure. Those who are suspected of have atherosclerosis, hypertension, diabetics, cardiovascular diseases and hyperlipidemia, PASESA's recommend that you should check yourself by model AVE-2000 Non-invasive Vascular Screening Device. PASESA means prevent arterial stiffness and enjoy successful aging.

Atherosclerosis is initiated by inflammatory processes in the endothelial cells of the vessel wall associated with retained low-density lipoprotein (LDL) particles. This retention may be a cause, an effect, or both, of the underlying inflammatory process. Lipoproteins in the blood varies in size. Some data suggests that small dense LDL particles are more prone to pass between the endothelial cells, going behind the cellular monolayer of endothelium. LDL particles and their content are susceptible to oxidation by free radicals and the risk is higher while the particles are in the wall than while in the bloodstream. However, LDL particles have a half-life of only a couple of days, and their content with time.

Once inside the vessel wall, LDL particles can become more prone to oxidation. Endothelial cells respond by attracting monocyte white blood cells, causing them to leave the blood stream, penetrate into the arterial walls and transform into macrophages. The macrophages' ingestion of oxidized LDL particles triggers a cascade of immune responses which over time can produce an atheroma if HDL removal of fats from the macrophages does not keep up. The immune system's specialized white blood cells absorb the oxidized LDL, forming specialized foam cells. If these foam cells are not able to process the oxidized LDL and recruit HDL particles to remove the fats, they grow and eventually rupture, leaving behind cellular membrane remnants, oxidized materials, and fats (including cholesterol) in the artery wall. This attracts more white blood cells, resulting in a snowballing progression that continues the cycle, inflaming the artery. The presence of the plaque induces the muscle cells of the blood vessel to stretch, compensating for the additional bulk, and the endothelial lining thickens, increasing the separation between the plaque and lumen. This somewhat offsets the narrowing caused by the growth of the plaque, but it causes the wall to stiffen and become less compliant to stretching with each heart beat.

The Risk Factors of the Atherosclerosis

1. Hypertension: Long-term hypertension cause the arterial wall damages physically and chemically. It makes easy deposition of lipids, the formation of fatty plaque and cause atherosclerotic stenosis. If blood pressure can't be in normal, the incidence of myocardial infarction can increases about 2 to 3 times, stroke is about 4 times.

2. Hyperlipidemia: The higher amount of the fats in the plasma is more easily deposited in the blood vessel wall to form plaques, resulting in arteriosclerosis stenosis.

3. Diabetes: The diabetes patient will have a problem of lipoprotein metabolism (Fat Protein), the transport of lipoprotein will be denatured in the blood. It causes fat deposition and formation of fatty plaque in the vessel wall.

4. Smoking: The toxic substances like nicotine and carbon monoxide in cigarettes will cause the arterial wall damaged. The injured wall will adhere to cholesterol easily, leading to platelet accumulation and the formation of fatty plaques. Meanwhile, smoking can cause coronary artery spasm and reduce blood supply in the body.

5. Lack of exercise: Exercise can increase the amount of high-density lipoprotein and reduce the amount of low-density lipoprotein, it helps the body to excess cholesterol from the biliary tract and intestinal excreted. It avoids the excess cholesterol deposition in the vascular wall. In addition, exercise can enhance blood circulation, increase blood vessel elasticity, reduce hypertension and consume excess calories, so that the proportion of body fat decreased and muscle weight increased. The good result is weight loss. Therefore, lack of exercise gets atherosclerosis easily.

6. Obesity: The obesity or overweight one, which increases the cardiac load, the probability of abnormal lipoprotein is high. Thus it increases the risk of atherosclerosis. Obesity is likely to trigger hypertension, diabetes, hyperlipidemia and insulin resistance syndrome.

7. Overpressure: We will increase the adrenaline secretion if we get overpressure. This would cause hypertension, increase the heart rate and damage the arterial wall.

8. Family history: Genetic factors, some people will occur atherosclerosis early. The reason is still unknown. Some is severe hypercholesterolemia; LDL and WBCs are accumulated in the vessel, so it contributes to the occurrence of atherosclerosis. Some is hypertension or thrombosis.

9. Nutrition: First of all, atherosclerosis risk factors – cholesterol. Large amount of intake of greasy foods is the main cause of atherosclerosis. Cholesterol is one of the main substances to synthesize the cell membrane, important brain and nerve tissue, and formation of hormone and vitamin D. However, if excessive intake of cholesterol, the cholesterol levels will be over the normal range. As a result, atherosclerosis will be induced. Excessive cholesterol, one of the important risk factors, in the blood is the occurrence of coronary artery disease and cardiovascular disease in the clinical study.

Secondly, fat diet and arteriosclerosis are closely related. Balanced diet is important. If you are likely to have fatty foods and not pay attention to the intake of other minerals, you will make too much LDL deposited in the blood vessel wall, it may induce arteriosclerosis and other cardiovascular diseases.

It's a complex process. Exactly how atherosclerosis begins or what causes it isn't known, but some theories plaque have been proposed. Many scientists believe begins to form because the inner lining of the artery, called the endothelium, becomes damaged. Three possible causes of damage to the arterial wall are:

• Elevated levels of cholesterol and triglycerides in the blood• High blood pressure• Cigarette smoking

Smoking greatly aggravates and speeds up the growth of atherosclerosis in the coronary arteries, the aorta and the arteries of the legs. Because of the damage, fats, cholesterol, platelets, cellular debris and calcium accumulate over time in the artery wall. These substances may Stimulate the cells of the artery wall to produce other substances, resulting in the accumulation of more cells in the innermost layer of the artery wall where the atherosclerotic lesions form. These cells accumulate. At the same time, fats builds up within and around these cells . They also form connective tissue.

The arterial wall becomes thickened by these cells and materials accumulation. The artery narrows and blood flow is reduced, the oxygen supply is decreased.

Often a blood clot forms and blocks the artery, stopping the flow of blood. If the oxygen supply to the heart muscle is reduced, a heart attack can occur. If the oxygen supply to the brain is cut off, a stroke can occur. And if the oxygen supply to the extremities is reduced, gangrene can result.

The following terms are similar in both spelling and meaning, and can be easily confused: arteriosclerosis, arteriolosclerosis, and atherosclerosis.Arteriosclerosis is a general term describing any hardening (and loss of elasticity) of medium or large arteries. Arteriolosclerosis is any hardening (and loss of elasticity) of arterioles. Atherosclerosis is a hardening of an artery specifically due to an athermanous plaque. The term atherogenic is used for substances or processes that cause atherosclerosis.

Three regions: Heart, brain tissue and carotid artery. Arteriosclerosis is a systemic. We know that heart arteriosclerosis can lead to myocardial infarction, cerebral arteriosclerosis can lead to cerebral hemorrhage, and carotid arteriosclerosis can lead to what the consequences? Many people may not know, it can be said that the hazards of carotid atherosclerosis is not worse than the heart. Recently, cardiovascular disease experts have studied the causes of carotid atherosclerosis. The results showed that smoking has the greatest impact on carotid atherosclerosis. Smoking cessation is the best way to prevent carotid atherosclerosis, if a person does not smoke, or quit smoking in the elderly, the risk of occurrence of carotid atherosclerosis is much smaller.

1. Reduce the intake of salt, sugar and fats.We should avoid fried foods and high cholesterol food. For example: shrimp, liver, kidney and other internal organs and egg yolk and so on.

2. Don’t smoke and avoid second-hand smoke.Tobacco damages the cardiovascular endothelial cells and the endothelial system function. It can cause cardiac hypertrophy, thicken and affect the normal systolic and diastolic movement, and HDL decline.

3. Appropriate amount of physical activity.Physical activity should be based on your physical condition, step by step. We should not be forced to vigorous exercise; the best way is to insist on not less than 30 minutes of activities or 3 times 10 Minutes.

4. Relaxation.Long-term stress can stimulate the sympathetic nervou, it leads to fast heartbeat, vasoconstriction, hypertension and blood flow reduction.​​