Lexicon

A

Adventitious Weed is the outer membrane of the canals that make up the human body and especially the arteries. It is therefore an anatomical term which designates the outer part of the arterial wall which is made up of collagen fibers, elastic fibers and connective tissue (the supporting tissue of the organism). In the adventitia are the capillaries which feed the walls of the arteries and the nerve fibers which allow a certain control of the size of the conduit allowing the contraction or the dilation of the vessels.

Anastomosis: An anastomosis is a connection between two structures, organs or spaces. These are usually connections between blood vessels, or other tubular structures such as a loop of the intestine.

In vascular surgery, it corresponds to the creation of a connection between two vessels by means of a suture.

Aneurysm: An aneurysm or aneurysm (ancient Greek, ἀνεύρυσμα, « dilatation ») is a localized dilation of the wall of an artery leading to the formation of a pocket of variable size, communicating with the artery by means of a Narrowed area called the collar. Its usual shape is that of a bag, its diameter can reach several centimeters.

The aneurysm, where the wall is intact, must be distinguished from the pseudo aneurysm (or false aneurysm) where the wall is ruptured (after a puncture for example) and the blood contained by the adjacent structures.

Angioplasty or endoluminal or transluminal or endovascular dilation: Angioplasty is a medico-surgical technique of modification of a blood vessel, usually an artery. The method was first used by Charles Dotter and then followed and modified by Andreas Gruentzig in Zurich in 1977. Angioplasty can be performed without surgical intervention by the needle aspiration of the vessel: it is then called « percutaneous « .

Platelet Antiplatelet: is a drug that decreases platelet aggregation and inhibits the formation of thrombus. Anti-aggregants are effective in the arterial circulation, where anticoagulants have little effect. They are often used in the primary and secondary prevention of cerebrovascular or cardiovascular thrombotic diseases, such as atheroma during coronary artery disease, for example.

Anticoagulant: An anticoagulant is a chemical substance having the property of inhibiting the natural coagulability of blood. The blood thus treated will not coagulate or less quickly, but will retain the same viscosity. The main use of the anticoagulant is medical.

Artery: An artery (from the Greek αρτηρία, arteria) is a vessel that conducts blood from the heart to other tissues of the body.

Atheroemia: Atherosclerosis refers to a rearrangement of the intima of the arteries of large and medium caliber (aorta and its branches, coronary arteries, cerebral arteries, arteries of the lower limbs) by segmental accumulation of Lipids, complex carbohydrates, blood and blood products, adipose tissue, limestone deposits and other minerals. It is among other things responsible for coronary artery disease.

B

Angioplasty balloon: Tools used in endovascular procedures to dilate a stenosis at high pressure (between 6 and 20 times atmospheric pressure) by blowing a liquid. This balloon is positioned under radioscopy using radiopaque markers. It is brought to the stenosis on a guide (or guide wire).

C

Catheter (= designet = introducer): is a medical device consisting of a tube, of variable width and flexibility, and made of different materials according to the models or uses for which they are intended. The catheter is intended to be inserted into the lumen of a cavity of the body or a blood vessel and allows drainage or infusion of liquids or access for other medical devices. The procedure for inserting a catheter is called catheterization.

Clamp: A surgical tool that can be used to pinch a vessel atraumatically to stop circulation and to open it without the blood circulating.

Coils: English term for a small metal coil used to allow embolization (filling of a vessel).

D

Dissection: abrupt cleavage of the arterial wall at the level of the media (middle layer of a blood vessel): junction 2/3 internal and 1/3 external, creating a false channel (2nd arterial light) concentric and parallel to the first lumen .

Depending on the location of the artery, one speaks of:

Dissection of the coronary artery.

E

Embolus: any abnormal element transported by the blood and blocking the blood circulation. It may be a solid element of a gas or a blood clot causing an occlusion at the level of the artery resulting in ischemia (lack of oxygen) in the normally irrigated organ .

Embolization: technique intended to inject inside an artery, a substance, a material that will allow to obstruct that is to say to completely block this artery and to make it possible to stop a bleeding by the way Endovascular.

Endarterectomy: Ablation of the endartera, internal tunica of the artery formed of the intima and the adjacent part of the media, when the artery is altered by atherosclerosis.

Endofibrosis: a disease affecting the young man and more specifically the racing cyclist. The very high level practice of this sport can cause (position and high cardiac output) repeated trauma of the intima causing after several years the formation of a fibrous reaction stenosis progressively obstructing the lumen of the artery (the most frequent iliac External) and may interfere with intense physical activity.

H

Heparin: It is a substance with extremely powerful anticoagulant properties. It is frequently used for its action on thrombosis. It is administered subcutaneously or intravenously.

Hypertension: cardiovascular disease defined by an excessively high blood pressure. Often multifactorial, hypertension may be acute or chronic, with or without severity. Arterial hypertension is commonly referred to as a systolic blood pressure greater than 140 mmHg and a diastolic blood pressure greater than 90 mmHg.

I

Infarction: the brutal and massive death of cells (irreversible necrosis of part of an organ), in connection with a lack of oxygen. The related adjective is infarci. We can talk about myocardial infarction, cerebral infarction or intestinal infarction.

Intima: internal tunic of a blood vessel. In fact, the wall of the arteries, of the veins, is composed of three tunics which are from the inside to the outside: the intima, the media, and the adventitia.

Ischemia: is the decrease in arterial blood supply to an organ. This decrease essentially results in a decrease in the oxygenation of the tissues of the organ below its needs (hypoxia) and the disruption or even arrest of its function.

L

Ligature: Surgical treatment that involves tightening a tie around a blood vessel or tumor. The ligature of the arteries was developed by the French physician Ambroise Paré (~ 1510-1590), which he substituted for cauterization in amputations. In fact, Aboul-Quassim had done it six hundred years earlier in cases of amputation.

M

Media: a layer of membranous cells made up of connective tissue (collagen and elastic fibers), called tunic, and constituting the middle part of a vessel (artery or vein).

P

Bridging: a surgical technique dating back to the 1960s that allows to circumvent the stenosed (or narrowed) regions of the arteries. The bridge is the result of bridging. The junction between the « bridge » and the artery deemed sound is called « anastomosis ».

Depending on the location,

Pumps renal …

Contrast material: A substance that artificially increases the contrast to visualize an anatomical (eg, organ) or pathological (eg, tumor) structure with little or no contrast, so that it would be difficult to distinguish between Neighboring tissues.

S

Stenosis: from the Greek στένωσις « narrowing » 1, derived from στενός (stenos) « narrow », is an anatomical modification that results in a narrowing of a structure (canal, vessel). Thus, aortic stenosis is a narrowing of the aorta.

Stent (= endoprosthesis): An implantable vascular device (mesh and tubular) most often metallic whose objective is to be placed in the wall of the artery either to keep it open (within the framework of the atheroma) Exclude an aneurysm or cover a hole on the artery if it is covered with tissue (referred to as a covered stent).

Sympathectomy: surgical removal of the sympathetic trunk.

The aim of sympathectomy (blockage of the nerves) is an interruption of these nerves which give impulses, sources of perspiration, to the sweat glands. In theory, with this method the sweating could be completely stopped and this over the whole body; In practice this is of course unthinkable.

T

Thrombectomy (or embolectomy): ablation of a clot in a blood vessel, vein or artery. It can be surgical or done by catheterization.

Thrombosis: refers to the formation of a clot in a vessel. It may be arterial or venous thrombosis.

Thrombus: final product of blood coagulation, by platelet aggregation and activation of the humoral coagulation system. Thrombosis is the formation of a thrombus blocking a blood vessel. It is a « clot » in non-medical terminology but it does not necessarily imply that it is in a blood vessel. It must be differentiated from the hematoma, blood collection, which may or may not be coagulated and located outside the blood vessels.

Thrombolysis (= fibrinolysis): consists in lysing (disaggregating) by drug thrombus (blood clots) obstructing the blood vessels. This treatment artificially reproduces the physiological phenomenon of fibrinolysis and complements the anticoagulant treatment.

V

Valve: A membrane which, in the vessels or other ducts of the body of man and animal, directs liquids in a certain direction and prevents them from flowing back.

Varicose veins: permanent dilatations of the veins, most often on the lower limb. The varicea of the lower limbs is a subcutaneous vein whose diameter is greater than 3 mm. Varicose veins are usually sinuous. They are the seat of a blood reflux.

Vein: a vessel that allows blood to be transported from the periphery (organs or tissues) to the heart (venous return).