Stenosis

Stenosis
Synonyms	Stenoses
Pronounce
Field
Symptoms
Complications
Onset
Duration
Types
Causes
Risks
Diagnosis
Differential diagnosis
Prevention
Treatment
Medication
Prognosis
Frequency
Deaths

A stenosis (from Ancient Greek στενός, "narrow") 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).<ref>

Dorlands Medical Dictionary:stenosis(link). {{{website}}}. www.mercksource.com.

</ref>

Stricture as a term is usually used when narrowing is caused by contraction of smooth muscle (e.g. achalasia, prinzmetal angina); stenosis is usually used when narrowing is caused by lesion that reduces the space of lumen (e.g. atherosclerosis). ^{(August 2015)}

The term coarctation is another synonym,<ref>"coarctation" at Dorland's Medical Dictionary

</ref> but is commonly used only in the context of aortic coarctation.

Restenosis is the recurrence of stenosis after a procedure.

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

The types of stenoses in heart valves are:

• Pulmonary valve stenosis, which is the thickening of the pulmonary valve, therefore causing narrowing
• Mitral valve stenosis, which is the thickening of the mitral valve (of the left heart), therefore causing narrowing
• Tricuspid valve stenosis, which is the thickening of the tricuspid valve (of the right heart), therefore causing narrowing
• Aortic valve stenosis, which is the thickening of the aortic valve, therefore causing narrowing

Stenoses/strictures of other bodily structures/organs include:

• Pyloric stenosis (gastric outflow obstruction)
• Lumbar, cervical or thoracic spinal stenosis
• Subglottic stenosis (SGS)
• Tracheal stenosis
• Obstructive jaundice (biliary tract stenosis)
• Bowel obstruction
• Phimosis
• Non-communicating hydrocephalus
• Stenosing tenosynovitis
• Atherosclerosis
• Esophageal stricture
• Achalasia
• Prinzmetal angina
• Vaginal stenosis

Causes

• atherosclerosis causes stenotic lesions in arteries.
• birth defects
• calcification
• diabetes
• iatrogenic, e.g. secondary to radiation therapy
• infection
• inflammation
• ischemia
• neoplasm – in such cases, the stenosis is often said to be "malignant" or "benign", although this attribute actually refers to the neoplasm itself.
• smoking
• ureteral
• urethral

Diagnosis

Stenoses of the vascular type are often associated with unusual blood sounds resulting from turbulent flow over the narrowed blood vessel. This sound can be made audible by a stethoscope, but diagnosis is generally made or confirmed with some form of medical imaging.

See also

• Atresia
• Restenosis

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