ABSTRACT
The group of clinically important lesion types includes not only lesions that produce symptoms but also silent ones that are similar in histology but do not (yet) obstruct blood flow much, rupture the arterial wall or give rise to emboli. The histological hallmarks are the complete structural disorganization and thickening of the intima and, in severe cases, changes in the adjacent media and adventitia. Clinically important degrees of atherosclerotic disease appear as a range of characteristic histological compositions designated lesion types IV, V, VI, VII and VIII. Although any of these lesion types may produce symptoms, type VI is the histology that does so most often and is mostly found in fatal cases.
