Stenosis of Carotid Artery Disease

When the carotid blood vessels of the body become damaged or diseased, you're often suffering from a condition known as carotid artery disease. As the disease develops, less and less blood is pumped in your brain, causing you to experience symptoms of the condition as well as putting you at higher risk of certain complications. But unlike other diseases that can affect the body, carotid artery disease is preventable, since many of the contributing factors that lead up to this condition involve your lifestyle.

Stenosis

• For most people with carotid artery disease, the blood vessels begin to abnormally narrow. This narrowing is often referred to as simply stenosis and is due to the accumulation of fatty deposits (or plaque) along the arterial walls. But these fatty deposits don't gather overnight. Most of the time, it takes years to narrow, so you may never know that stenosis is happening until you manifest symptoms of the condition.

Symptoms

• At the onset of stenosis in carotid artery disease, you don't usually develop any symptoms. It isn't until the narrowing worsens that the condition makes its presence known. At this time, you can begin to suffer weakness or numbness to the right or left arm, leg or side of face, blindness in the right or left eye, garbled speech or even paralysis. All of these symptoms are largely due to the lack oxygen pumping to the brain.

Origins

• The origin of the stenosis usually stems from certain lifestyle factors, but it may also come from another medical condition. With your lifestyle, things such as high blood pressure, high blood cholesterol, lack of exercise, obesity, diet and smoking can all contribute to the narrowing of the arterial walls. Diabetes can also contribute to the formation of the disease.

Complications

• If you were to develop stenosis with carotid artery disease, you are at a greater risk of serious complications. One of the more common is a stroke, but you may also suffer from a transient ischemic attack (TIA). The deprivation of both blood and oxygen to the brain can affect its overall function, potentially damaging portions of your brain.

Treatment

• The treatment of stenosis typically entails a two-pronged approach, involving both lifestyle changes and medical care. As treatment of the condition begins, you are often asked to change to a healthier, more balanced diet that limits your intake of fat, cholesterol and sodium while increasing your consumption of fruits, vegetables and whole grains. This is typically followed by a combination of both weight loss and exercise. And you'll also need to stop smoking as well as reduce your level of stress.

  With medical care, treatment can entail a number of prescription drugs, such as beta blockers, ACE inhibitors, cholesterol medications and calcium channel blockers. The type of medication is based on the contributing factors of the stenosis, such as high blood pressure and high blood cholesterol. In other cases of stenosis, a surgical procedure may be necessary to manually clean out the plaque or place a stent to open the narrowed vessel.

Prevention

• Since your lifestyle frequently causes the narrowing of the carotid arteries, prevention lies within your daily habits. Leading a more active life, eating a healthy diet and keeping your weight low can all prevent stenosis and the development of carotid artery disease. It is also important to manage conditions, such as diabetes, to avoid this condition.