What blocks the arteries?
Blockage of arteries is typically caused by arteriosclerosis. This is the famous “hardening of the arteries”, in which the arterial walls become thickened and inelastic. The common variety of arteriosclerosis is called atherosclerosis, which is caused by the buildup of cholesterol deposits. (For all practical purposes, you can regard these two words, which look so much alike anyway, as interchangeable; I will use the term atherosclerosis.) The buildup of cholesterol deposits on arterial walls is a gradual process, constricting the flow of blood through the arteries more and more over time. However, it can also produce changes which are anything but gradual. If there is a lot of deposited material on the wall of a large artery, a piece of it can flake off the arterial wall, and become lodged in a smaller artery downstream. Also, the breaking-off of this piece of deposited material may wound the blood vessel, causing an obstructive blood clot to form. Either way, this sort of event can l
