[Contemporary views on the etiology and pathogenesis of atherosclerosis].

Atherosclerosis is caused by a large range of exogenous and endogenous risk factors and does not result simply from the hypercholesterolemia and the accumulation of lipids. Atherogenesis is a dynamic multifactor and multi-stage inflammatory process, where different cells, cytokines and growth factors interacte as results of endothelial cell damage. This process is characterized by a focal subintimal deposition of lipids and lipoproteins in "foam cells" with a further development of chronic focal inflammation and expanditure of fibrosis, stenosis of the arterial lumen and development of further organ complications. The same are found in 50% of the patients, affected by atherosclerosis and are at the root of the death-rate in USA and Europe.