In medicine, at the time of diagnosis of serious diseases, the term "occlusion" is often used. What it is? What specific pathological changes are behind it and by what signs can the presence of occlusion be determined? We will talk about this in today's article. We will dwell on vascular occlusion, its symptoms and methods for establishing an accurate diagnosis.
Separately on the concept of occlusion in dentistry
"Occlusion" is a broad term. In dentistry, for example, it refers to any contact between the teeth of the upper and lower jaw. So, central occlusion (the location of the teeth with the maximum number of interdental contacts, in which the line between the incisors of the upper and lower jaw coincides with the conditional middle of the face) is almost the same as the concept of occlusion. That is, one or another ratio of teeth, defined in central occlusion, is considered a bite.
In dentistry, there are many types of occlusion. So, very common cases of malocclusion, for example, provoked by an underdevelopment of the lower jaw or, conversely, by its excessive development, are distal occlusion. You must have observed such a bite: the front upper teeth cover the lower row of teeth.
But we will move on to find out what occlusion is in general medicine.
What is the danger of vascular occlusion
Physicians, speaking of occlusion, mean the state of any hollow anatomical formation: lymphatic or blood vessels, subarachnoid (subarachnoid) space, etc. - which is closed as a result of damage to its walls or the appearance of neoplasms that clogged its lumen.
Vascular occlusion is a very dangerous phenomenon, since, for example, a decrease in their patency can lead to a malfunction of many human organs. This type of pathology in medicine rightly refers to the most dangerous cardiovascular diseases, which, unfortunately, have risen in our time to the leading place among health problems leading to death or severe disability.
The cause of vascular occlusion
First of all, it is necessary to clarify what exactly causes vascular occlusion: what causes this disease and what its symptoms look like. This information is very necessary, since most often the time allotted for the urgent care of such patients is calculated literally in hours, or even minutes.
The causes of occlusion include violations of the integrity of the vascular walls, blood coagulation and varicose veins. Often such deviations in blood circulation are associated with the consequences of infectious diseases or their complications, as well as with atrial fibrillation.
As a result of a rhythm failure in certain areas of the heart, small blood clots form, which at the time of a sharp increase in blood pressure, stress or physical activity are ejected from the atrium and block the vessels that feed the lungs or lower limbs.
The patient feels, as a rule, a sharp sudden pain, since the thrombus presses on the wall of the vessel, and, bursting it, respectively, and on the nerve endings. The pain can cover a rather large area, and the patient is sometimes not even able to indicate exactly where it is localized.
Types of Occlusion
Remember, speaking of a pathology called occlusion, this circulatory disturbance is divided in its localization into venous and arterial, affecting the great vessels that feed the human organs, its central nervous system and limbs. And depending on the time and nature of the course of the disease - in acute and chronic forms.
When obstruction is obstructed by a blockage of the vessel by any dense formation moving in the blood stream, it is an embolism. It causes circulatory disorders. And thereby provokes a new thrombosis. This condition is characterized as an emergency, requiring urgent intervention. It is reversible only in the first 6 hours, and then leads to tissue necrosis.
Symptoms of Acute Embolism
As you understand, all the tissues that appear in the pool of a vessel that has lost patency undergo necrosis. In order to have time to provide assistance, it is important to know the symptoms that characterize the appearance of a pathological condition:
- acute sudden onset;
- sharp severe pain;
- the skin at the site of clogging becomes pale and cold to the touch, here after a while cyanosis with a marble pattern appears here;
- at the site of occlusion there is no pulsation of blood vessels;
- the skin loses sensitivity;
- the functions of the organ affected by occlusion are impaired.
What are the causes of impaired blood vessel patency
To accurately determine the cause of arterial occlusion, there are several definitions.
- For example, an embolism is a blockage caused by a blood clot moving through a vessel (blood clot). And most often, heart disease is the basis of this phenomenon. They cause thrombosis in the cavities of the heart.
- And thrombosis is a blockage formed by blood clots that appear on the walls of blood vessels as a result of stagnation of blood.
- Obliteration is the closure of the lumen with an atherosclerotic plaque during atherosclerosis or its narrowing as a result of changes in the walls of the vessel that occur with obliterating endarteritis.
- Aneurysm is a sharp expansion or protrusion of the walls of the vessel, resulting from thrombosis and often entails embolism.
Damage to the vessels of the lower extremities
Occlusion of the lower extremities should rightfully be made in a separate section, as medical statistics record that half of all known cases of blockage occur in the femoral or popliteal artery. This pathology is divided into acute and chronic.
The symptoms of the acute form have been thoroughly studied, described and reduced to five main symptoms, the manifestation of at least one of which requires emergency diagnosis and treatment. All of them are indicated in the section on signs of acute embolism. Untimely diagnosis and measures can lead to irreversible changes in the tissues and to loss of the limb.
This acute pathology is treated surgically. At the beginning of the disease, therapy is aimed at restoring blood circulation, and in situations of gangrene development, amputation of the limb is required.
Chronic occlusion - what is it?
In the case of a chronic form of the disease, patients initially complain of rapidly onset fatigue when walking, pain in the calf muscles, a feeling of freezing of the limbs, as well as a change in skin color on them.
In the future, a characteristic sign of the disease becomes intermittent claudication. It is caused by pain that appears in the calves and makes you stop. The patient waits for her to calm down and can go again. Constant pain, by the way, is a sign of progressive or significant occlusion of the limbs.
Examination of the patient shows a change in tissues: the skin is atrophied, pale, there is no hair on it, the nails are thickened and crumble. Necrotic changes appear initially spotty blue, mainly in the sole and toes. Joining an infection usually entails gangrene. In the initial stages, the pathology is treated conservatively in a hospital setting and is aimed at restoring blood circulation and improving metabolic processes.