Stenosis
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
A stenosis is an abnormal narrowing in a blood vessel or other tubular organ or structure. It is also sometimes called a "stricture" (as in urethral stricture).
Stenoses of the vascular type are often associated with a noise (bruit) resulting from turbulent flow over the narrowed blood vessel. This bruit can be made audible by a stethoscope. Other, more reliable methods of diagnosing a stenosis are imaging methods including ultrasound, Magnetic Resonance Imaging/Magnetic Resonance Angiography, Computed Tomography/CT-Angiography which display anatomic imaging (i.e. the visible narrowing of a vessel) and/or flow phenomena (signs of the movement of the bodily fluid through the bodily structure).
[edit] Causes
- atherosclerosis causes stenotic lesions in arteries.
- birth defects
- ischaemia
- infection
- neoplasm
- inflammation
- iatrogenic, e.g. secondary to radiation therapy
[edit] Types
The resulting syndrome depends on the structure affected. Examples of vascular stenotic lesions include:
- Intermittent claudication (peripheral artery stenosis)
- Angina (coronary artery stenosis)
- Carotid artery stenosis which predispose to (strokes and transient ischaemic episodes)
- Renal artery stenosis
Stenoses/strictures of other bodily structures/organs include:
- Pyloric stenosis (gastric outflow obstruction)
- Obstructive jaundice (biliary tract stenosis)
- Bowel obstruction
- Phimosis
- Hydrocephalus
- Stenosing tenosynovitis
- Spinal stenosis
- Subglottic stenosis (SGS)
