the.com/atherosclerosis
A disease where fatty deposits build up in artery walls, narrowing them and restricting blood flow.
means A disease in which fatty deposits (plaques) build up inside artery walls, making them stiff and narrow and restricting blood flow.
from Built from Greek athera, meaning 'gruel' or 'porridge' — a vivid nod to the soft, mushy fatty core of the plaques — plus sklerosis, 'hardening,' from skleros, 'hard.' So the word itself is a tiny, unglamorous diagnosis: porridge, then hardening. It entered medical use as doctors in the 19th and early 20th centuries pieced together that artery disease involved both a fatty, gruel-like buildup and a stiffening of the vessel wall — two Greek words stitched together to describe one slow catastrophe.
- starts
- childhood plaque buildup begins surprisingly early
- mechanism
- cholesterol, immune cells, scar tissue harden artery walls
- silent killer
- often symptomless until a heart attack announces it
- reversible-ish
- diet and statins can slow, rarely fully undo it