hemorrhage

hemorrhage

hemorrhage (hĕmˈərĭj), escape of blood from the circulation (arteries, veins, capillaries) to the internal or external tissues. The term is usually applied to a loss of blood that is copious enough to threaten health or life. Slow bleeding may lead to anemia, while the sudden loss of a large amount of blood may cause shock. Hemorrhage from a cerebral artery can be fatal because of interference with brain function. Many diseases and disorders (e.g., hemophilia, hemorrhagic fevers, hemorrhoids, peptic ulcer, scurvy, tuberculosis, and typhoid fever) as well as childbirth and many injuries can give rise to hemorrhage. Internal hemorrhage may require surgical intervention. See first aid.

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The following article is from The Great Soviet Encyclopedia (1979). It might be outdated or ideologically biased.

Hemorrhage

 

escape of blood from blood vessels that have been injured as a result of trauma or vascular disease.

Hemorrhages may be arterial (scarlet blood spurts like a fountain), venous (a flow of dark blood), capillary, or mixed. The intensity of bleeding depends on the size of the injured vessel and the condition of its wall. Blood may flow to the outside, into the lumen or body of an organ (stomach, intestine, brain), or into a cavity (abdominal, pleural). Bleeding is accompanied by pallor of the skin and mucosa, dizziness, weakness, dyspnea, thirst, a drop in arterial pressure, and a weak and rapid pulse. A large and rapid blood loss (25 percent of the blood volume or 4—4.5 percent of the body weight) produces loss of consciousness and may result in death. Persons weakened by a disease can be severely affected by even a small blood loss. In persons with atherosclerosis of the blood vessels, bleeding continues longer and is more difficult to stop. Bleeding in hemophilia patients, which arises when there is the slightest trauma, is extremely persistent.

Measures for stopping bleeding depend on its cause and source. Arrest of bleeding may be temporary or permanent. For temporarily stopping bleeding, a tourniquet, or pressure bandage, is applied to the extremities; vasoconstrictors, ice, or hemo-static sponges (on wounds) are also used. These measures often lead to complete cessation of bleeding; if bleeding does not stop it becomes necessary to resort to surgical methods (ligation of the vessel, suturing, removal of the injured or affected organ or of part of it) to achieve permanent cessation of bleeding. Blood transfusion or transfusion of blood substitutes that increase blood coagulation is a necessary part of treatment to control hemorrhage.

A. B. GALITSKII

The Great Soviet Encyclopedia, 3rd Edition (1970-1979). © 2010 The Gale Group, Inc. All rights reserved.

hemorrhage

[′hem·rij]

(medicine)

The escape of blood from the vascular system.

McGraw-Hill Dictionary of Scientific & Technical Terms, 6E, Copyright © 2003 by The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc.

haemorrhage

(US), hemorrhage

profuse bleeding from ruptured blood vessels

Collins Discovery Encyclopedia, 1st edition © HarperCollins Publishers 2005