User:Prettyengram/sandbox

Angiophagy is an innate mechanism of microvascular recanalization independent of the fibrinolytic system. Instead of clearing emboli through an enzymatic degradation process like the fibrinolytic sysetm, angiophagy leads to the extravasation of emboli through the vascular wall and into the perivascular space. This results in complete vessel recanalization and its long term sparing. Angiophagy occurs in most microvascular beds including brain, retina, heart, lung and kidney. In the lung and kidney, extravasated emboli can also cross the adjacent epithelium. In the lung, these leads to emboli residing in the alveolar space which are later engulfed by microphages and degraded.