I have been told once calcified plaque in the coronary arties has formed it can not be removed. And must be bypassed. You can prevent additional plaque from forming.
The coronary plaque that breaks off and float to another area
Is not the calcified plaque. Or is it?

I have been told once calcified plaque in the coronary arteries has formed it can not be removed. And must be bypassed. You can prevent additional plaque from forming.
The coronary plaque that breaks off and floats to another area, Is not the calcified plaque. Or is it?

Yes, it normally is calcified plaque. Note, however, that this is fairly uncommon. This would cause embolisms. These embolisms could lodge anywhere in the body. If they lodged in the brain, it could be fatal.

The problem is that a plaque in the coronary artery may be stable and narrow the artery by 50% right now. For example, though since they are talking about bypass it probably indicates your plaques narrows your artery by greater than 70% and that there may be more than one since an angioplasty and stent don't seem to be advised.

However if the plaque ruptures, it may set off a series of chemical reactions that narrow the artery further or completely block it, causing a heart attack.

Prescient Medical - Heart Attacks (http://www.prescientmedical.com/content/view/13/67/)




Heart attacks and angina are often caused by very different types of arterial plaque. Angina is generally caused by hard, relatively stable plaque that visibly blocks the artery. In the case of a heart attack, the major cause is soft plaques hidden within the arterial wall that are “vulnerable” to rupture. This rupture releases a liquid pool of various types of cholesterol and other debris into the blood stream that can form a blood clot, blocking blood flow to the heart and causing a heart attack. In fact, recent data have shown that vulnerable plaque rupture causes as many as 85% of all heart attacks1.






Plaque Rupture and Heart Attack - Medical Illustration, Human Anatomy Drawing, Anatomy Illustration (http://catalog.nucleusinc.com/generateexhibit.php?ID=30468)


Aspirin and plavix block the initial steps in this chemical reation to prevent heart attack.

To REDUCE and stabilize atherosclerotic plaques
1] quit smolking if you do
2] lower bad cholesterol [ ldl < 100 ]
3] raise good cholesterol [ hdl > 50 ]
4] control blood pressure, if you have it [ < 130/ 85 ]
5] control blood sugar if you have diabetes [ < 120 before meals, a1c < 7 % ]




G&P