General
and Systemic Histopathology, C601&C602
Slide 110: Elastic artery with
atherosclerosis; myocarditis
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As with so many of these
conditions, just looking at the tissue on the slide tells us the story.
You can see how profoundly narrowed the vascular lumen is from the atherosclerosis.
Add to that the complete occlusion due to the thrombus and there's not
much left to say.
Look at the sections of heart for the inflammation in the myocardium.
See this slide with the
virtual microscope. |
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Here is a condition you
want to know well. Although this condition will be dealt with in detail
in various sections of this course, here's a chance for you to study the
basic morphology of the plaque for its own sake. This slide is of an elastic
artery with a classical atherosclerotic plaque with secondary thrombosis.
The plaque is in the sub-intima and is a fairly complex structure. Observe
the cholesterol "slits." The cholesterol was "washed out" during the processing
of the tissue, leaving behind the little spaces where the deposits had
been. As far as problems associated with this disease, a plaque can weaken
the wall of an artery, potentially causing a rupture of the vessel; it
can cause thrombosis (as it did here) and thereby complete occlusion of
the lumen; and it can continue to "grow." What do you think happened to
the patient that gave us this slide? |
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