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Figure 2. Age-related changes in pathophysiology in elderly patients. (A) Pathophysiological changes in blood vessels include reduced availability of nitric oxide, increased accumulation of free radicals, and increased arterial stiffness. (B) Aging leads to loss of the total number of cardiomyocytes, compensatory hypertrophy, and fibrotic changes. These changes together with calcification of the cardiac skeleton contribute to a loss of function of cardiac pacemaker cells. (C) Aging processes lead to increased release of coagulation factors and decreased release of anti-coagulation factors, which favor thrombus formation.