Reversal Therapy, a Better Treatment for Heart Disease

The reason for this is that, while narrowing of the arteries is clearly related to heart attack risk, there are other factors at work. Atherosclerosis works like this: a pool of lipids, or fat collects in the wall of the artery. The body reacts by covering these plaques with a cap made up by the lining of the arterial wall. The cholesterol also causes inflamation and scarring of the wall — bumps or patches made up mostly of scar issue — and covering these in turn with a new lining. As scar tissue builds up, these plaques grow and narrow the artery, interfering more and more with the flow of blood. At some point, the decreased blood flow to the heart may cause chest pain, shortness of breath or another symptom that will bring you the doctor's office. Well before that point, however, one or more plaques may rupture, or break away from the arterial wall, and form a sudden, complete blockage of blood flow. This causes a type of heart attack, also called myocardial infarction.

There are three factors that contribute to plaque rupture: the presence of a particularly large lipid pool in the arterial wall; a very thin, easily-ruptured lining or cap covering the lipid pool; and the presence of large numbers of inflammatory cells called macrophages. Produced by the body's own immune system, these macrophages release enzymes that dissolve the cap and help cause plaque rupture. Plaque rupture becomes much more likely when all three of these factors are at work.

Unfortunately, these factors are not related to each other and none is directly related to the severity of the arterial narrowing. This explains the unpredictability and seeming randomness of this type of heart attack.5 Research has shown that most cases of plaque rupture happen to people whose arteries are only slightly or moderately narrowed(1)(2)(3)(4)(5) and who have no symptoms. In fact, these apparently healthy people are actually at greater risk for heart attack than those with symptoms because younger, smaller plaques with more fat and less scar tissue rupture more easily than the older, more scarred plaques that cause more severe arterial narrowing.

Reversal Therapy v. Conventional Therapy