Prevalence of atherosclerosis in coronary arteries - A autopsy study

Coronary artery disease accounts for the overwhelming majority (about 80%) of cardiovascular sudden deaths. The process of atherosclerosis begins in childhood but more advanced lesions begin to develop after 21 years. The study was conducted to find out the prevalence of atherosclerosis in the right & left main coronaries. The study duration was of 2 years from October 2006 to October 2008 & it includes 120 medicolegal postmortem cases. The major coronary arteries were sectioned transversely by sharp knife at intervals of not more than 0.3 cm as well as longitudinally upto its ostia, and morphological lesions were noted. In each case sections were taken from coronary arteries and sent for histopathological study. The prevalence of atherosclerosis was found to be lowest in the age group of 10–19 years and higher as the age advances. The left coronary artery was more involved than the right with the changes of atherosclerosis.