When it comes to garbage, in addition to the garbage produced in daily life, people often talk about “vascular garbage”. Even if you haven’t tried it yourself, you must have heard that “soaking peanuts in vinegar can soften blood vessels; Eat black fungus can clear blood vessel more “wait for all sorts of clear blood vessel folk prescription.
Is there really “junk” in your veins? Do you have to clean your blood vessels regularly to keep them open? Today, we’re going to answer these questions from the perspective of a vascular sonographer.
“Vascular waste” is actually nutrients
First, it is important to make sure that the “junk” in the blood vessels is not a “toxin”, but atherosclerotic plaque. These plaques are caused by fatty deposits of excess nutrients in the blood vessels, narrowing the lumen of the vessel, slowing blood flow and eventually blocking the vessel.
One-third of adults in China have carotid atherosclerotic plaques and are getting younger, according to a new analysis from the Chinese Prospective Study of Chronic diseases. Carotid ultrasound is gradually becoming an option for routine physical examination.
Because more and more people have plaques, people are paying more attention to cleaning up the “vascular garbage”.
Soft patch bad, hard patch good?
Some people simply interpret plaque as: soft bad, hard good. Is this really the case? When we classify “vascular waste”, the truth comes out.
When we talk about soft plaque and hard plaque, we are actually talking about plaque stability. Stability is an important index to determine the risk level of plaque, while soft and hard are only one of the evaluation criteria, which should be comprehensively analyzed according to the structural characteristics of plaque (shape, size, position and internal echo, etc.) and whether the patient has cardiovascular and cerebrovascular disease risk factors and control status.
See form. Smooth surface, regular appearance of the plaque is generally not easy to rupture; And the appearance is not smooth, irregular shape plaque, easy to rupture under the impact of blood flow.
Just like the irregular shape of stones along the river bank, it is easy to cause the effect of “crashing waves, causing thousands of piles of snow”. For example, the plaque with uneven thickness of the surface fibrous cap is easy to rupture when encountering fluctuations in blood pressure. After rupture, the atherosclerotic substance in the plaque is released, which is easy to form thrombosis. The thrombosis falls off and causes embolization of the main cerebral artery, which may cause large cerebral infarction.
See form. Calcified plaque is relatively hard, and generally speaking, it should be relatively stable. However, according to our clinical practice, the stability of plaque is also different with different parts and ranges of calcification.
If it’s speck of calcification inside the plaque, it’s cholesterol necrosis, which is an unstable factor. If calcification occurs on the surface of the plaque, it will cause the irregular shape of the plaque, but also easy to rupture. After rupture, tiny plaques are flushed into intracranial blood vessels and form cerebral infarction, which is more difficult to clear by thrombolytic therapy than cerebral ischemia caused by thrombosis.
How do you find out what the plaque looks like and what its composition is? This is what ultrasound is good at, assessing plaque vulnerability (stability) by examining echogenics within the plaque and performing a specialised classification of “vascular waste”.
Usually, the echogenicity of plaque in ultrasound examination is divided into the following types from low to high:
Hypoechoic — the main components are lipids (cholesterol), old bleeding, inflammatory cells, etc. For patients with such plaques, especially those with abnormal lipids (higher than normal), lipid-lowering therapy is recommended. Stability of blood pressure control is the key point in patients with chronic bleeding.
Low to no echo — usually fresh hemorrhage within the plaque. Most of these patients are related to the rupture of new blood vessels in plaque or the rupture of surface fibrous cap caused by alcohol consumption, emotional agitation, elevated blood pressure or instability.
(3) Isoecho — the main component is fibrous tissue hyperplasia; Such plaques are relatively stable.
(4) Strong echo — the main component is calcification.
Mixed echo — the above various types of plaque characteristics can appear in the same patient, the same or different plaques.
Arterial damage occurs all the time. High blood pressure, smoking, some chemicals, diabetes, inflammatory immune damage (such as vasculitis and other connective tissue diseases) are the factors that aggravate arterial damage. These risk factors contribute to changes in plaque stability, suggesting that even when plaques are classified, they are not fixed.
Therefore, can not check out after the soft patch is nervous, heavy thought burden; Also cannot discover is hard plaque after be at ease, negligent at guard against.
Don’t let blood vessels have “garbage”, the important thing is to prevent
Plaque formation and its stability change over time, not overnight. Most plaques will gradually grow larger, but it has been found in clinical observation that some plaques can be slimmed down or even disappeared by actively controlling risk factors in the early stage of their formation and when they are mainly composed of lipid components.
In the clinical, will meet a lot of patients want to put the life of the “small magic trick” used in the elimination of plaque, some said can use a point “descaling agent” to eliminate it, some said to use a shovel to shovel it, there are said to use the tube to suck it out… I’m afraid there is some misunderstanding about the plaque.
Plaque is not a thrombosis, our blood vessels are not steel pipes, plaque is a little bit over a long period of time on the wall of the blood vessels, not so easy to remove.
So what do we do? The most basic measure is to change unhealthy lifestyles.
- Don’t take it personally. High oil, high salt, high sugar, and more meat than vegetable will lead to excessive intake of salt, oil, and sugar. Too much salt will make blood vessels dilate, thus raising blood pressure. The excess lipid will not only deposit on the blood vessel wall and block the blood vessel, but also increase the blood viscosity; Sugar clogs blood vessels indirectly. So, want to eliminate plaque in the blood vessel, it is to do not let the blood vessel block continues to develop above all, achieve light diet.
Quit smoking. Smoke contains nicotine, carbon monoxide, oxygen free radicals, polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons and butadiene and other harmful substances, after reaching the blood vessels, will interfere with the fat metabolism in the blood, destroy the vascular elasticity, damage the vascular endothelium, and block the circulation of blood vessels.
- Quit being lazy and not exercising. Long-term inactivity, blood vessels inside the “garbage” there is no way to discharge; And vascular disease patients as long as adhere to exercise, can significantly improve vascular function.
- Don’t get angry.
Many cardiovascular and cerebrovascular diseases are associated with excessive mood swings. Peace of mind is essential for healthy blood vessels. This is because when people get angry, the body will release some inflammatory substances, these inflammatory substances can stimulate blood vessels, the growth of atherosclerotic plaque, or make the existing plaque rupture, stenosis, plaque further development. So, for the sake of vascular health, really stop getting angry.
Plaque formation and development is a complex process. In the face of plaques, we only need to adhere to the basis of a healthy life, understand and control their “three high” (fat reduction, pressure regulation, sugar adjustment), at the same time according to the doctor’s guidance to prevent cardiovascular events.
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