A method for the study of the dynamics of atherosclerotic involvement of human coronary arteries.

A method able to reveal the progression of atherosclerosis from children to mature adults is proposed, based on the successive light microscopic examination of similar selected topographic sites of the coronary arterial tree placed in sequence according to age, sex and branching anatomical pattern. The dynamic reconstruction of thousands of static views revealed a linear and parallel increase in the number of all types of early atherosclerotic lesions: fibromuscular plaques, intimal necrotic areas, incorporated microthrombi and fatty streaks. Some endogenous and exogeneous risk factors for coronary heart disease accelerated this age-related rate of progression and also gave rise to particular cycles of evolution toward lesions of possible clinical significance.