Stenosis
| Stenosis | |
|---|---|
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| CT scan of a bronchial stenosis (arrow) that resulted from tracheobronchial injury | |
| Classification and external resources | |
| MeSH | D003251 |
A stenosis (/stəˈnoʊsᵻs/;[1][2] plural: stenoses, /stəˈnoʊˌsiːz/) (from Ancient Greek στένωσις, "narrowing") 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).[3]
Stricture as a term is usually used when narrowing is caused by contraction of smooth muscle (e.g., achalasia, prinzmetal angina); stenosis is usually used when narrowing is caused by lesion that reduces the space of lumen (e.g., atherosclerosis). The term coarctation is another synonym,[4] but is commonly used only in the context of aortic coarctation.
Restenosis is the recurrence of stenosis after a procedure.
Diagnosis
Stenoses of the vascular type are often associated with unusual blood sounds resulting from turbulent flow over the narrowed blood vessel. This sound can be made audible by a stethoscope, but diagnosis is generally made or confirmed with some form of medical imaging.
Causes
- atherosclerosis causes stenotic lesions in arteries.
- birth defects
- diabetes
- iatrogenic, e.g. secondary to radiation therapy
- infection
- inflammation
- ischemia
- neoplasm – in such cases, the stenosis is often said to be "malignant" or "benign", although this attribute actually refers to the neoplasm itself.
- smoking
- ureteral
- urethral
- Calcification
- headbanging
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
The types of stenoses in heart valves are:
- Pulmonary valve stenosis, which is the thickening of the pulmonary valve, therefore causing narrowing
- Mitral valve stenosis, which is the thickening of the mitral valve (of the left heart), therefore causing narrowing
- Tricuspid valve stenosis, which is the thickening of the tricuspid valve (of the right heart), therefore causing narrowing
- Aortic valve stenosis, which is the thickening of the aortic valve, therefore causing narrowing
Stenoses/strictures of other bodily structures/organs include:
- Pyloric stenosis (gastric outflow obstruction)
- Lumbar, cervical or thoracic spinal stenosis
- Subglottic stenosis (SGS)
- Tracheal stenosis
- Obstructive jaundice (biliary tract stenosis)
- Bowel obstruction
- Phimosis
- Non-communicating hydrocephalus
- Stenosing tenosynovitis
- Atherosclerosis
- Esophageal stricture
- Achalasia
- Prinzmetal angina
- Vaginal stenosis
See also
References
Notes
- ↑ OED 2nd edition, 1989, as /stɪˈnəʊsɪs/.
- ↑ Entry "stenosis" in Merriam-Webster Online Dictionary.
- ↑ "Dorlands Medical Dictionary:stenosis". www.mercksource.com. Retrieved 2010-05-05.
- ↑ "coarctation" at Dorland's Medical Dictionary