Question

Why would atherosclerosis result in a heart attack? Provide a brief explanation based on how the heart functions.

Answer 1

An atherosclerotic plaque is caused by and exacerbates damage to the endothelial layer. This promotes haemostasis, resulting in a thrombus forming ontop of the plaque. If the thrombus embolises it will travel down the arterial tree until it is too big to travel any further causing a sudden lack of blood flow to the heart and hypoxia to downstream cardiac tissue. The lack of oxygen results in loss of function of the cardiomyocites and anaerobic resperation causes a build-up of lactic acid, leading to pain.