Atheroscleosis: The Circulatory System

For my third nine weeks project, I chose to do my research on a condition of the circulatory system called Atherosclerosis. The circulatory system is arguably the most important system in the body because it includes the heart and blood, which most people view as the symbol of life itself. If your heart beats, you are alive. I am most interested in the circulatory system, because it’s fascinating and also very relatable for me as my mom and dad both struggle with different circulatory issues. For me it’s interesting because I am able to learn and understand their conditions better due to informative teaching.

Before I explain the disease, I should first explain how and what the circulatory system does in the human body when healthy. The circulatory

This is why medicine is often injected into veins rather than arteries or capillaries. This, in summary, is how the healthy circulatory system works. The heart pumps blood to the lungs where it is oxygenated, then the blood goes back through the heart into the arteries, which push the blood through blood vessels to carry it around the body, and then veins carry the blood back to the heart to be sent to the lungs again. In summary, that is how a healthy circulatory system operates. Atherosclerosis is a slow progressive disease that usually worsens in the victims 30s, but becomes dangerous in the 50s and 60s. Some risk factors that worsen the progression are smoking, high cholesterol, and high blood pressure. The buildups of plaque on the inside of veins and vessels is sometimes described as a plumbing problem. The plaques create a small space for blood to move through, causing backups. It’s harder to drink a milkshake through a coffee straw than it is to drink from a McDonalds straw, isn’t it? The healthy vein is the McDonald’s straw, the coffee straw is the vein with a plaque buildup. If plaques break away from the walls of the vein, it can circulate through the bloodstream as an emboli, which is a

Low blood supply can cause many other issues so it is important to be caught early. Treatments include surgical repair and healthy heart choices. It is important to treat the condition as well as possible to keep the circulatory system working