[Atherosclerosis: basic mechanisms].

Abstract

The evolution of atheromatous lesions is characterized by its slowness, over on several years, for a long time wholly silent, and by the menace of complications which happened brutally, generally threatening lately the functional and vital prognosis. These complications are: reduction of arterial lumen with its hemodynamic consequences, thromboses, embolisms, and more rarely arterial aneurysms. Atherosclerotic lesions have been known for a long time and well described from the macroscopic and histologic points of view. Likewise, the chemical composition of the arterial components at the different steps of the disease is now known. On the contrary many mysteries still remain concerning the pathogenesis of atherosclerosis, and more and more we tend to think that the causes of the disease are numerous and that they start a number of common mechanisms which begin to be best known.