Arterial fibromuscular dysplasia

What it means

An arterial lesion that is characterized by either intimal fibroplasia, with neointimal lesions of cells and matrix deposition, or medial fibroplasia, in which there is loss of smooth muscle cells and increased deposition of collagen and proteoglycans in the medial layer.

Fibromuscular dysplasia (FMD) is distinct from atherosclerotic lesions in that FMD lesions do not contain inflammatory cells or lipids. Instead, the pathology of FMD. FMD can result in arterial stenosis or occlusion, and less commonly, arterial dissection or aneurysm formation. FMD can affect almost any artery but most commonly affects the renal arteries, presenting as hypertension, and the carotid and vertebral arteries, leading to ischemic stroke, transient ischemic attacks, headaches, and pulsatile tinnitus.

Rare diseases that can present with this1

The range is how often this sign appears among people diagnosed with each disease — it is not a probability of having any of them. Many of these signs also occur in common, non-rare conditions. A sign on this page is a conversation to have with a clinician, not a conclusion.

Part of the broader category