- Microangiopathy
-
Microangiopathy Classification and external resources ICD-9 443.9 Microangiopathy (or microvascular disease, or small vessel disease) is an angiopathy affecting small blood vessels in the body.[1] It can be contrasted to macroangiopathy.
The term cerebral small vessel disease refers to a group of pathological processes with various aetiologies that affect the small arteries, arterioles, venules, and capillaries of the brain. Age-related and hypertension-related small vessel diseases and cerebral amyloid angiopathy are the most common forms.
Small vessel coronary disease is a type of coronary heart disease (CHD) that affects the heart's arterioles and capillaries. Small vessel coronary disease is also known as cardiac syndrome X, microvascular dysfunction, non-obstructive coronary disease, or microvascular angina.
Pathophysiology
One cause of microangiopathy is long-term diabetes mellitus. In this case, high blood glucose levels cause the endothelial cells lining the blood vessels to take in more glucose than normal (these cells do not depend on insulin). They then form more glycoproteins on their surface than normal, and also cause the basement membrane to grow thicker and weaker. The walls of the vessels become abnormally thick but weak, and therefore they bleed, leak protein, and slow the flow of blood through the body. Then some cells, for example in the retina (diabetic retinopathy) or kidney (diabetic nephropathy), may not get enough blood and may be damaged. Nerves, if not sufficiently supplied with blood, are also damaged which may lead to loss of function (diabetic neuropathy).
Massive microangiopathy may cause microangiopathic hemolytic anemia (MAHA).
References
- ^ "microangiopathy" at Dorland's Medical Dictionary
torso: Aortic aneurysm (Thoracic aortic aneurysm, Abdominal aortic aneurysm) · Aortic dissection · Coronary artery aneurysmhead/neck: Cerebral aneurysm · Intracranial berry aneurysm · Carotid artery dissection · Vertebral artery dissection · Familial aortic dissectionVeins primarily lower limb (Deep vein thrombosis)abdomen (Hepatic veno-occlusive disease, Budd–Chiari syndrome, May-Thurner syndrome, Portal vein thrombosis, Renal vein thrombosis)upper limb/torso (Paget-Schroetter disease, Mondor's disease)OtherArteries or veins Vasculitis · Thrombosis · Embolism (Pulmonary embolism, Cholesterol embolism, Paradoxical embolism) · Angiopathy (Macroangiopathy, Microangiopathy)Blood pressure Hypertensive heart disease · Hypertensive nephropathy · Essential hypertension · Secondary hypertension (Renovascular hypertension) · Pulmonary hypertension · Malignant hypertension · Benign hypertension · Systolic hypertension · White coat hypertensionpathology
Categories:- Pathology stubs
- Histopathology
Wikimedia Foundation. 2010.