Types
Hemostasis is the complex process by which bleeding is stopped following damage to a blood vessel.
Recognizing the type of hemorrhage is very important for establishing intervention methods.
Hemorrhages are classified according to several criteria:
- Depending on the injured blood vessel, there are distinguished:
1. arterial hemorrhages, dangerous, a large amount of blood can be lost because the blood gushes out rhythmically, with pressure. The blood is bright red, it is oxygenated. The sectioned vessel can be seen in the wound (yellowish-white ring), allowing the exact location of the blood flow to be determined.
2. Venous hemorrhages are distinguished by the reduced speed of flow and by the dark red color of the blood. The flow of blood is in waves, flooding the wound. If the injured vessel is of small caliber, the bleeding can be stopped by a dressing.
3. Capillary hemorrhages occur at the microcirculation level and are, in most cases, stopped by physiological hemostasis. if the wounds have large surfaces or involve highly vascularized areas, capillary hemorrhages become dangerous because they are difficult to control.
- Depending on the place where the bleeding occurs, hemorrhages are classified into:
1. External hemorrhages are hemorrhages in which the blood appears on the surface of the body. They have the advantage of being noticed immediately, which allows for urgent measures to be taken to stop them.
2. Internal hemorrhages are hemorrhages in which blood flows into a closed cavity (cranial cavity, thoracic cavity, abdominal cavity, cavity organs, stomach, intestine, urinary bladder). They are more serious because they cannot be noticed immediately, their diagnosis requires clinical and paraclinical investigations carried out by competent personnel, their treatment is done only in a specialized service.
3. Externalized hemorrhages are hemorrhages in which blood flows into an organ that communicates with the outside, for example:
- epistaxis = nosebleed;
- otorage = bleeding from the middle ear;
- rectal bleeding = rectal bleeding;
- urethrorrhagia = bleeding from the urethra;
- hemoptysis = blood from the lungs, which flows through the oral cavity;
- hematemesis = hemorrhage at the level of the stomach in which the blood comes out through the oral cavity (vomiting);
- melena = bleeding in the digestive tract (stomach, intestine) in which the blood is eliminated together with the faeces.
- Depending on the time when they occur, hemorrhages are classified into:
1. primary hemorrhages, which occur with blood vessel damage
2. secondary hemorrhages, which appear at a certain interval after the trauma, through the erosion of the vascular wall.