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Coronary heart disease

Coronary heart disease is manifested by deposits of blood lipids and cells on the walls of the coronary arteries (atheroma), which later become calcified and lead to the development of areas of narrowing (stenosis).

© Berchtold, Chirurgie, Elsevier 2008
Fig.: All the important main and side branches of the left coronary artery, which branches into the anterior interventricular branch or left anterior descending artery (AIV or LAD) and the circumflex branch (RCX), and the right coronary artery (RCA) are affected. Main stem stenosis is when the short segment of the left coronary artery is stenosed before it branches into the LAD and circumflex artery.