Health Library

Coronary artery disease

If we looked inside the chest cavity, we would see the lungs and pericardium, which is the fibrous covering of the heart. We could also see the heart beating. Here are the left and right coronary arteries. They supply blood to specific regions of the heart. If either is damaged or blocked, it could injure the heart wall.

In a healthy artery, red blood cells flow through unimpeded. But if the inner wall is damaged, cholesterol plaque can build up. This progressively narrows the space through which blood flows.

Eventually, the artery may become too narrow for clotted blood to pass through. If it does, the artery could become completely blocked.

That would cause a lack of oxygen, or ischemia, in the part of the heart the artery supplies. The result is a heart attack, known as a myocardial infarction.

Review Date: 4/10/2023  

Reviewed By: Michael A. Chen, MD, PhD, Associate Professor of Medicine, Division of Cardiology, Harborview Medical Center, University of Washington Medical School, Seattle, WA. Also reviewed by David C. Dugdale, MD, Medical Director, Brenda Conaway, Editorial Director, and the A.D.A.M. Editorial team.

A.D.A.M., Inc. is accredited by URAC, for Health Content Provider (www.urac.org). URAC's accreditation program is an independent audit to verify that A.D.A.M. follows rigorous standards of quality and accountability. A.D.A.M. is among the first to achieve this important distinction for online health information and services. Learn more about A.D.A.M.'s editorial policy, editorial process and privacy policy. A.D.A.M. is also a founding member of Hi-Ethics. This site complies with the HONcode standard for trustworthy health information: verify here.

The information provided herein should not be used during any medical emergency or for the diagnosis or treatment of any medical condition. A licensed medical professional should be consulted for diagnosis and treatment of any and all medical conditions. Links to other sites are provided for information only -- they do not constitute endorsements of those other sites. No warranty of any kind, either expressed or implied, is made as to the accuracy, reliability, timeliness, or correctness of any translations made by a third-party service of the information provided herein into any other language. © 1997- 2024 A.D.A.M., a business unit of Ebix, Inc. Any duplication or distribution of the information contained herein is strictly prohibited.