Cardiovascular complications of diabetes

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Extract from the article: Diabetes can lead to cardiovascular complications or heart, vascular or arterial problems. According to Professor René Baragou, Cardiologist and Head of Cardiology at the CHU Sylvanus Olympio, diabetes also affects the large blood vessels, including

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Diabetes can lead to cardiovascular complications or heart, vascular or arterial problems. According to Professor René Baragou, Cardiologist and Head of Cardiology at the CHU Sylvanus Olympio, diabetes also affects the large blood vessels, including the arteries in the neck, legs and heart. Cardiovascular disease is the most common cause of death in people with diabetes.

Because of chronic hyperglycaemia or its association with other cardiovascular risk factors such as excess triglycerides and blood cholesterol, obesity, high blood pressure and a sedentary lifestyle, « diabetes encourages the development of fatty plaques or atheroma, which form and spread on the inner walls of the arteries », explains Professor René Baragou, Cardiologist and Head of Cardiology at the CHU Sylvanus Olympio.

« As atherosclerotic plaques thicken, they narrow the diameter of the artery (stenosis), gradually impeding blood flow to the organs and depriving them of oxygen.Eventually, these plaques can completely block the artery.When the plaques are unstable, they can rupture and lead to the formation of clots (thrombosis), which eventually block the artery. Excess sugar in the blood encourages the formation of these clots », explains Professor René Baragou, Head of Cardiology at the CHU Sylvanus Olympio.

Initially, atherosclerotic plaques often develop without symptoms, but if not treated early, they can lead to cardiovascular accidents. The organs that depend on the blood supply carried by these blood vessels will suffer, and some areas may even be destroyed.  Coronary arteries are most often affected: « coronary thrombosis », for example, is the formation of a clot in the arteries that supply blood to the heart.

« It can lead to a myocardial infarction (heart attack), the arteries in the neck, which can cause a vascular accident in the brain: this is known as a cerebrovascular accident or CVA, and the arteries in the lower limbs, which, if affected, are responsible for obliterative arteriopathy of the lower limbs (AOMI), which can lead to gangrene requiring amputation of the limb », stresses Professor René Baragou.

William O.