
Health Dictionary
Reliable, easy-to-read patient information on common medical conditions — written in plain language, free of jargon, and grounded in current evidence. Browse the most frequent diagnoses, understand what they mean for everyday life, and learn which steps and questions help you have a focused conversation with your doctor.
Strictures
Introduction
Overview
Overview
A stenosis 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).
Stenoses of the vascular type are often associated with a noise (bruit) resulting from turbulent flow over the narrowed blood vessel. This bruit can be made audible by a stethoscope. Other, more reliable methods of diagnosing a stenosis are imaging methods including ultrasound, Magnetic Resonance Imaging/Magnetic Resonance Angiography, Computed Tomography/CT-Angiography which display anatomic imaging (i.e. the visible narrowing of a vessel) and/or flow phenomena (signs of the movement of the bodily fluid through the bodily structure).
Causes
Causes
- atherosclerosis causes stenotic lesions in arteries.
- birth defects
- ischemia
- infection
- neoplasm
- inflammation
- iatrogenic, e.g. secondary to radiation therapy
Types
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
Stenoses/strictures of other bodily structures/organs include:
- Pyloric stenosis (gastric outflow obstruction)
- Obstructive jaundice (biliary tract stenosis)
- Bowel obstruction
- Phimosis
- Hydrocephalus
- Stenosing tenosynovitis
- Spinal stenosis
- Subglottic stenosis (SGS)
Editor-In-Chief: C. Michael Gibson, M.S., M.D. [1]
