Microangiopathy is an angiopathy

Angiopathy

Angiopathy is the generic term for a disease of the blood vessels . The best known and most prevalent angiopathy is diabetic angiopathy, a common complication of chronic diabetes.-By caliber:...

 affecting small blood vessel

Blood vessel

The blood vessels are the part of the circulatory system that transports blood throughout the body. There are three major types of blood vessels: the arteries, which carry the blood away from the heart; the capillaries, which enable the actual exchange of water and chemicals between the blood and...

s in the body. It can be contrasted to macroangiopathy

Macroangiopathy

-Pathophysiology:In macroangiopathy, fat and blood clots build up in the large blood vessels, stick to the vessel walls, and block the flow of blood....

.

The term cerebral small vessel disease refers to a group of pathological processes with various aetiologies that affect the small arteries, arteriole

Arteriole

An arteriole is a small diameter blood vessel in the microcirculation that extends and branches out from an artery and leads to capillaries.Arterioles have muscular walls and are the primary site of vascular resistance...

s, venule

Venule

A venule is a very small blood vessel in the microcirculation that allows deoxygenated blood to return from the capillary beds to the larger blood vessels called veins. Venules range from 8 to 100μm in diameter and are formed when capillaries unite .Venules are blood vessels that drain blood...

s, and capillaries of the brain. Age-related and hypertension

Hypertension

Hypertension or high blood pressure is a cardiac chronic medical condition in which the systemic arterial blood pressure is elevated. What that means is that the heart is having to work harder than it should to pump the blood around the body. Blood pressure involves two measurements, systolic and...

-related small vessel diseases and cerebral amyloid angiopathy are the most common forms.

Small vessel coronary disease is a type of coronary heart disease

Coronary heart disease

Coronary artery disease is the end result of the accumulation of atheromatous plaques within the walls of the coronary arteries that supply the myocardium with oxygen and nutrients. It is sometimes also called coronary heart disease...

 (CHD) that affects the heart's arterioles and capillaries. Small vessel coronary disease is also known as cardiac syndrome X, microvascular dysfunction, non-obstructive coronary disease, or microvascular angina.

Pathophysiology

One cause of microangiopathy is long-term diabetes mellitus

Diabetes mellitus

Diabetes mellitus, often simply referred to as diabetes, is a group of metabolic diseases in which a person has high blood sugar, either because the body does not produce enough insulin, or because cells do not respond to the insulin that is produced...

. In this case, high blood glucose levels cause the endothelial cells lining the blood vessels to take in more glucose than normal (these cells do not depend on insulin

Insulin

Insulin is a hormone central to regulating carbohydrate and fat metabolism in the body. Insulin causes cells in the liver, muscle, and fat tissue to take up glucose from the blood, storing it as glycogen in the liver and muscle....

). They then form more glycoprotein

Glycoprotein

Glycoproteins are proteins that contain oligosaccharide chains covalently attached to polypeptide side-chains. The carbohydrate is attached to the protein in a cotranslational or posttranslational modification. This process is known as glycosylation. In proteins that have segments extending...

s on their surface than normal, and also cause the basement membrane

Basement membrane

The basement membrane is a thin sheet of fibers that underlies the epithelium, which lines the cavities and surfaces of organs including skin, or the endothelium, which lines the interior surface of blood vessels.- Composition :...

 to grow thicker and weaker. The walls of the vessels become abnormally thick but weak, and therefore they bleed, leak protein, and slow the flow of blood

Blood

Blood is a specialized bodily fluid in animals that delivers necessary substances such as nutrients and oxygen to the cells and transports metabolic waste products away from those same cells....

 through the body. Then some cells, for example in the retina (diabetic retinopathy

Diabetic retinopathy

Diabetic retinopathy is retinopathy caused by complications of diabetes mellitus, which can eventually lead to blindness....

) or kidney (diabetic nephropathy

Diabetic nephropathy

Diabetic nephropathy , also known as Kimmelstiel-Wilson syndrome, or nodular diabetic glomerulosclerosis and intercapillary glomerulonephritis, is a progressive kidney disease caused by angiopathy of capillaries in the kidney glomeruli. It is characterized by nephrotic syndrome and diffuse...

), may not get enough blood and may be damaged. Nerves, if not sufficiently supplied with blood, are also damaged which may lead to loss of function (diabetic neuropathy

Diabetic neuropathy

Diabetic neuropathies are neuropathic disorders that are associated with diabetes mellitus. These conditions are thought to result from diabetic microvascular injury involving small blood vessels that supply nerves in addition to macrovascular conditions that can culminate in diabetic neuropathy...

).

Massive microangiopathy may cause microangiopathic hemolytic anemia

Microangiopathic hemolytic anemia

In medicine microangiopathic hemolytic anemia is a microangiopathic subgroup of hemolytic anemia caused by factors in the small blood vessels. It is identified by the finding of anemia and schistocytes on microscopy of the blood film.-Presentation:It is referred as Runner's anemia...

(MAHA).