A study of correlation of the extent and severity of atherosclerosis in the coronary and cerebral arteries and between their individual branches has been undertaken in 200 consecutive medicolegal autopsies.
The coronary atherosclerosis developing first in the second decade appears about 20 years earlier than the cerebral atherosclerosis. There is, however, a significant correlation between the coronary and cerebral arterial beds.
There is a significant interbranch relationship within the coronary system. The atherosclerotic process starts earliest in the left anterior descending branch of the coronary arteries. The extent of correlation is more marked between the two branches of the left coronary artery than that of either of them with the right coronary artery. The interbranch relationship in the cerebral arterial bed also shows a significant correlation. Basilar artery shows the maximum atherosclerosis, next in order being middle cerebral artery; the postcerebral artery shows much less affliction to the atheroma and the anterior cerebral artery exhibits a high degree of freedom.
scite is a Brooklyn-based organization that helps researchers better discover and understand research articles through Smart Citations–citations that display the context of the citation and describe whether the article provides supporting or contrasting evidence. scite is used by students and researchers from around the world and is funded in part by the National Science Foundation and the National Institute on Drug Abuse of the National Institutes of Health.