| Stenosis | |
|---|---|
| Classification and external resources | |
 CT scan of a bronchial stenosis (arrow) that resulted from tracheobronchial injury |
|
| MeSH | D003251 |
A stenosis (plural: stenoses; 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).
The term "coarctation" is synonymous,[1] but is commonly used only in the context of aortic coarctation.
Contents |
Diagnosis
Stenoses of the vascular type are often associated with unusual blood sounds resulting from turbulent flow over the narrowed blood vessel. This bruit 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
- smoking
- ureteral
- urethral
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
Stenoses/strictures of other bodily structures/organs include:
- Pyloric stenosis (gastric outflow obstruction)
- Obstructive jaundice (biliary tract stenosis)
- Bowel obstruction
- Phimosis
- Hydrocephalus
- Stenosing tenosynovitis
- Spinal stenosis
- Subglottic stenosis (SGS)
See also
References
Dr. Douglas Dembinski & Dr. Richard Godby, Stenosis: A Comprehensive Review, Journal of Cardiovascular Medicine, March 2008
External links
Open source encyclopedia content modification information:
This page was last modified on 27 January 2010 at 01:31.
Authorship and Review
Open source encyclopedia content provided here is not reviewed directly by MedLibrary.org. Content is sourced directly from Wikipedia and is authored by an open community of volunteers. It is not produced by or in any way affiliated with MedLibrary.org.
Usage Guidelines
This article is licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License. It uses material from the Wikipedia article on "Stenosis", which is available in its original form here:
http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Stenosis
All material adapted used from Wikipedia is available under the terms of the GNU Free Documentation License. Wikipedia® itself is a registered trademark of the Wikimedia Foundation, Inc.