HAEMORRHAGIA
\hˌɛməɹˈe͡ɪd͡ʒə], \hˌɛməɹˈeɪdʒə], \h_ˌɛ_m_ə_ɹ_ˈeɪ_dʒ_ə]\
Sort: Oldest first
-
Loss of blood, Rupturing, bursting, or breaking of a blood-vessel, Any discharge of blood from vessels destined to contain it; with or without rupture of their coats. Hemorrhages may be spontaneous or traumatic: the first belong to the domain of medicine, the latter to that of surgery. They may, also, be internal or external; general- as in scurvy-or local. The hemorrhages by exhalation- those which chiefly interest the physician- have been classed, by Pinel, as follows: - 1. Hemorrhage of the Mucous Membranes; Epistaxis, Haemoptysis, Haematemesis, Haemorrhoids, Haematuria, Uterine Hemorrhage. 2. Hemorrhage of the Tissues; Cutaneous, Cellular, Serous, Synovial. Hemorrhages have generally been distinguished into active and passive: in other words into those dependent upon augmentation of the organic actions, and those dependent upon debility. According to Broussais, no spontaneous hemorrhage is passive; all are active,-that is, produced by increased action and excess of irritation of the blood-vessels: they may occur with debility, but not from debility. He calls those only passive hemorrhages, which are owing to an external lesion of the vessels. Hemorrhages have been, by some, divided into constitutional, or those depending on original conformation :-accidental, or those produced by some adventitious cause; supplementary, or those which succeed others; symptomatic, critical, &c. A secondary hemorrhage is one that occurs some time after wounds or operations. When hemorrhage takes place into any tissue, or is interstitial, it receives the name, with many, of apoplexy. Active Hemorrhage, occurs chiefly in the young and plethoric. Good living; the use of fermented liquor- excessive exercise, or too sedentary a life, may perhaps be ranked as predisponent causes. It is commonly preceded by heaviness and pulsation in the part,- owing to the afflux of blood and consequent hyperaemia,-and by coldness of the extremities. The blood, evacuated, is generally of a florid red. In such active hemorrhages, the great indications of treatment will be, to diminish plethora where it exists, and to lessen the heart's action. Bleeding, purgatives, and cold, will be the chief agents. Passive Hemorrhage, occurs In those of weak constitution; or who have been debilitated by protracted disease, poor diet, long watching, excessive evacuations, &c. The direct causes may be: - previous active hemorrhage; scorbutus, or any thing capable of inducing atony or asthenic hyperaemia of the small vessels. These hemorrhages are not preceded by excitement or by any signs of local determination. They are usually accompanied by paleness of the countenance; feeble pulse; fainting, &c. The indications of treatment will be:- to restore the action of the small vessels and the general tone of the system: hence the utility of styptics and cold externally; and of tonics and astringents, creasote, mineral acids, &c., internally. Hemorrhage also occurs from mechanical hyperaemia, as when haemoptysis is produced by tubercles in the lungs: haematemesis by disease of some of the solid viscera of the abdomen, &c. In Traumatic Hemorrhages, or those which are the consequences of wounds of arterial or venous trunks, the blood is of a florid red colour, and issues by jets and pulses, if it proceed from an artery; whilst it is of a deeper red, issues slowly and by a continuous flow, if from a vein. If the capillary vessels be alone divided, the blood is merely effused at the surface of the wound. Of the means used for arresting these traumatic hemorrhages, some act mechanically as absorbents, ligature, and compression; others chymically, as fire, caustics, creasote, astringents, &c.
By Robley Dunglison
Word of the day
Dopamine Acetyltransferase
- An enzyme that catalyzes the of groups from acetyl-CoA to arylamines. They have wide specificity for aromatic amines, particularly serotonin, and can also catalyze acetyl transfer between arylamines without CoA. EC 2.3.1.5.