Improving lifestyle is the basic principle that all patients with atherosclerotic diseases follow. Mainly including diet and exercise.
Diet.
In terms of diet, we should first adopt the principle of low-salt and low-fat diet. Excessive salt intake is a major factor leading to the development of hypertension, so the current domestic and foreign guidelines suggest that the daily salt intake should be controlled below 6 grams, and patients with hypertension should be controlled below 5 grams.
It is necessary to properly control the intake of foods rich in saturated fatty acids such as fat and animal oil, because excessive intake of these foods will increase the level of blood lipids and promote the progress of atherosclerotic diseases. As for edible oil, try to replace animal oil with some vegetable oils rich in unsaturated fatty acids, such as linseed oil and olive oil.
Properly control the intake of foods rich in cholesterol, such as egg yolk, crab yolk, animal viscera, brain, etc. If you have the habit of eating eggs, the amount of cholesterol contained in one egg a day can basically meet the cholesterol demand for one day.
Exercise.
Proper aerobic exercise every day can improve microcirculation, promote metabolism and reduce blood lipid and blood sugar. Sports forms include swimming, jogging, playing ball, etc.
Drug plan.
For any patient with atherosclerotic disease, including carotid atherosclerosis, the risk of onset should be strictly assessed, and whether early drug treatment can be considered. Statins are commonly used in clinic, such as atorvastatin and rosuvastatin.
For some patients with severe carotid stenosis, it is necessary to evaluate the condition and consider other treatment methods, including carotid stent implantation and carotid endarterectomy.
First, what should I do after discovering carotid plaque? 1. Correct face: After finding arterial plaque, we should first face it correctly. Although arterial plaque is closely related to thrombotic diseases such as cerebral infarction and myocardial infarction, not all plaques will become thrombus. So we should relax, face it correctly and treat it actively. Moderate and mild carotid plaque hardly affects life.
2. Start life intervention: analyze the factors that lead to your own hardening plaque and correct it. Sclerosing plaque can not be formed overnight, and the progress of the disease is a slow process. As long as the etiology is blocked in time, the pathological process can be stopped. Life intervention should be carried out immediately, including quitting smoking, eating a low-salt low-fat low-sugar diet, eating more fruits and vegetables, strengthening exercise and losing weight.
3. Medication: During the life intervention, carotid color Doppler ultrasound and blood lipid can be checked every three months. If you can't control the pathological process through life intervention, you need medication. One medicine is statins, which can reduce blood fat, resist inflammation and oxidation, stabilize plaque and protect intima of blood vessels. In long-term clinical trials (more than 2 years), it can make the plaque smaller and reverse the plaque. Clinically, we should choose suitable statins according to the index of patients' blood lipid, and try to take the smallest dose of drugs to achieve the purpose of reducing blood lipid and reducing side effects.
Rosuvastatin and atorvastatin are powerful statins, which can reduce LDL-C by more than half. But the side effects are bigger and the price is more expensive. It is suggested that LDL-C should be reduced to 2.6mmol/L in people at risk of cardiovascular and cerebrovascular diseases, and to 65,438 0.8 mmol/L in people with cardiovascular and cerebrovascular diseases.
Another medicine is a small dose of aspirin. Most people take aspirin 100 mg every day, which can effectively inhibit platelet aggregation and prevent thrombosis in plaque stenosis. People with "three high" diseases also need to control blood pressure, blood lipid and blood sugar with drugs under the guidance of doctors.
4. Surgical treatment: Generally speaking, the sustainable development of carotid plaque can be blocked by life intervention and drug treatment. Carotid artery stenosis below 50% will hardly affect the blood supply to the brain, and there are no symptoms. However, some people have more than 70% carotid artery stenosis or severe cerebral ischemia symptoms, and need surgery. Stents can be placed surgically or thickened intima can be removed.
Second, can carotid plaque be completely eliminated? Many people are concerned about whether carotid plaque can be completely eliminated. For this matter, Hanako can only tell you with regret that once the carotid plaque is formed, it cannot be completely eliminated. Life intervention and drug therapy can only block the progress of plaque and achieve a limited degree of reversal. The operation is only aimed at the severe stenosis of carotid artery, but there is still nothing to do with the hardened plaque in other parts of the artery.
No matter whether the carotid artery has plaque or not, "keep your mouth shut and open your legs" is always the guarantee of a healthy life. People over 50 years old can effectively prevent the risk of cardiovascular and cerebrovascular diseases by checking carotid color Doppler ultrasound and blood lipid once a year.