Arteries bring “good blood”, loaded with oxygen, from the heart to the rest of the body.

Overall, conditions related to arterial diseases involve either narrowing of the lumen and, therefore, not having enough blood delivered to an organ or, alternatively, extreme distention of the artery leading a disease called an aneurysm.

When arteries are narrow, it is almost always a result of atherosclerosis, process of deposition of atherosclerotic plaque on internal walls of arteries. Sequences of arterial atherosclerosis include ischemia, or not having enough blood, as well as necrosis, when there is no blood being brought to the cells at all. Another complication of arterial atherosclerosis involve embolism, or throwing small pieces of the plaque with the blood flow to the tissues and organs downstream. When it happens in carotid artery, embolic stroke can develop. On other hand, a danger of arterial aneurysms formation is their progressive enlargement and rupture with usually significant blood loss.