Heart Disease

[DenTek]

Does anybody know what heavily calcified, but nonobstructing plaque seen in the mid abdominal aorta and in the proximal right iliac artery.  No other evidence of atherosclerotic disease is seen in the aorta or its primarily branches.  Atherosclerotic disease noted in the aorta.  What and where is the mid aorta?  Does that cause stomach pain?  Nonobstructing plaque seen in the mid abdominal aorta is that part related to the heart and/or stomach.  Can that cause chest pain?  The proximal right iliac artery goes where?  What is that part related to?  Does this mean I have heart Disease?  I do not have high blood pressure or high Chol.  I do have a lot of discomfort in the Chest area.  I do have small  vessels spasms not the disease of the small vessels.  

[Occupant]

I am not a doctor, but I can't see how a defect such as this laying way below your heart, below the kidneys even, has anything to do with your heart and/or your stomach, but that, obviously, doesn't mean that you don't have heart disease. What is interesting to me about about your  post is that that they have found "heavily calcified, nonobstructive plaque" in your Aorta. I have heavy (Agatson Score 1243) calcification in my LAD and not been able to find out whether that also means heavy obstruction. You could have what is known as Monckeberg’s arteriosclerosis. This vascular calcification could cause increased arterial stiffness, increased pulse pressure and resulting in exaggerated damage to the heart (if you have it in the arteries near the heart) and kidneys.

[ed34]

Goodness, where to begin. The Aorta is the biggest artery in the body and starts at the left side of the heart. This is where oxygen enriched blood is pumped to all areas of the body, including the coronary arteries. So, the Aorta starts at the heart, and in the chest, above the diaphram (used for expanding the lungs). It then travels a short distance upwards (ascending aorta) and curves over to face downwards, to become the descending aorta. The Arch has other blood vessels coming off, to feed your brain, arms and other upper organs.
The descending aorta now travels down and thru a hole in the diaphram, to enter the abdomen. We are now in the section of the stomach, liver, kidneys etc, lower than the chest. This is the abdominal aorta and halfway down, this part of the vessel has a coating of plaque, insufficient to affect blood flow. Travelling downwards, the aorta branches into two major vessels, above the groin, into the iliac arteries. These branch again, to feed lower extremeties of the abdomen, and feed the legs via the femoral arteries. The iliac arteries are a long way from the stomach. The top of the right iliac artery (right leg feed) is coated with plaque. If any arteries were considerably restricted in blood flow due to plaque, they would have spotted this. The report says primary branches off the aorta show no disease.
Whatever your stomach, chest pains are caused by, the cause doesn't seem to relate to blood flow.

[DenTek]

Thank you for your time.  I know that my LAD has no calcification.  The number was zero.  Your number is extremely high.  I know that I have plaque halfway down the abdominal aorta vessel.  I don't think that is consider heart disease maybe aorta disease.  (not sure)  Once again thank you for your time.

[DenTek]

Hi Ed:

I understand most of the information.  Can you answer a few questions?  The vessel that has a coating of plaque (half way down the abdominal aorta)  Do you know the name of the vessel or is it a small vessel  that has a coating of plaque on the outside of the vessel or is the plaque inside of that vessel.  Is the right iliac artery coated with plaque inside the artery or is it on the outside of the artery.  My question is can you have a coating of plaque on the outside of any artery or vessel?  And can plaque float around in your system and start coating your organs?  Once again thank you for your time.  ***@****

[ed34]

Hi
   Artery disease occurs from the inside, never the outside. It's a bit like when water pipes fir up on the inside. If there is a thin coating of minerals on the inside of the pipe, the water happily flows through with no real interruption. However, if the minerals build up sufficiently, the quantity of water reduces. Nature has made most arteries larger inside than they need to be, so you can effectively have 50% restrictions and not notice anything.
Your organs won't get coated on the outside either. This form of disease can restrict blood flow INTO the organs, making them less efficient at their job. The common term is Ischemia. A thin coating of plaque is not really a worry, but should be used as a wake up call to change lifestyle habits.
The report is talking about your Aorta, half way down. It says this is the only area of the Aorta with plaque, and it is not obstructing blood flow.

[DenTek]

Thank you for your time once again.  My child hood diet was not so good.  It caught up with me.  I guess it could be worse with the plaque.  I been on a very strict diet called the Celiac, Lactose and Fructose Diet for a few years now and that is no fun.  Way before that I had a very clean diet would not go out to eat always made my own food with the best ingredients which cost more money.  I been running for 45 years and weight training for 35 years.  Thank goodness I did that or I think I would have heart disease.  I believe plaque starts forming when you are a kid.  I think I'm living proof of that.  Once again Thanks.