In medicine, infarction is necrosis of tissue due to upstream obstruction of its arterial blood supply. It is the culmination of ischemia.
Although infarction can affect any organ in the context of a number of disease states, it is most closely associated with atherosclerosis. When an atherosclerotic plaque ruptures, a thrombus forms on the surface, occluding the blood flow and occasionally forming an embolus that occludes other blood vessels downstream.
Diseases commonly associated with infarction are:
Some other vascular disorders leading to forms of infarction:
