What are ischemic arteries?

Answer 1

there really isn't any such thing as an ischaemic artery (it can happen, but I've never heard of it!). Rather ischemia (or ischaemia for our English and Australian friends) is a lack of sufficient oxygen delivery to a tissue. Oxygen is carried by HEMoglobin in the blood hence the iscHEMia. Ischemia is usually caused by an interruption to the blood flow to a particular area. One way to interrupt blood flow is to block an artery. (which usually deliver oxygenated blood to tissues) A blockage may be the result of a plaque (a fatty aggregation on the inside walls of an artery), or a thombus (clot), or an embolus of some sort. People often hear that they may have ischemic Heart disease. This is a condition of severely narrowed arteries (often greater than 70% of their cross sectional area may be blocked) which leads to decreased blood (and hence oxygen) supply to the muscle of the heart. This can cause Angina. If the coronary arteries completely block off, then a heart attack will ensue, where cardiac muscle dies because of lack of oxygen. Treatment ranges from medications to: lower cholesterol, decrease oxygen consumption of the heart, vasodilators to increase delivery of blood through that artery; to surgery to operate and either re-open the blocked vessel (balloon angioplasty and stenting ) or procedures to essentially replace the diseased vessels in By-pass surgery (CABG- coronary artery bypass grafting). Hopefully that helps!! Aj :)