Excess cholesterol in the blood can cause Stroke and myocardial infarction. It is one of the major risk factors for atherosclerosis, a pathological basis for the stenosis (narrowing) and the obstruction of the arteries (cerebral and coronary above all) through the atherosclerotic plaque that increases inside the vessels until the occlusion of the blood flow in the artery (infarction).
Coronary arteries supply oxygen and nutrients to cardiac myocellulas. The contractility of the heart and therefore the pump function is proportional to the good function of the coronary circle. The reduction of coronary flow by stenosis of one or more coronary arteries or even occlusion causes damage to the tributary myocellulas of those arteries, which lack oxygen, suffer and die. This is the genesis of ischemia and myocardial infarction.