Exsanguination

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Synonyms and keywords: Desagnuination

Overview

Exsanguination (also known colloquially as bleeding out) is the fatal process of total hypovolemia (blood loss). It is most commonly known as "bleeding to death."

Historical Perspective

The term was widely used by the Hippocrates in traditional medicine practiced in the Greco-Roman civilization and in Europe during the Middle Ages. The word was possibly used to describe the lack of personality (by death or by weakness) that often occurred once a person suffered hemorrhage or massive blood loss.

The exact ideology of the term as it is commonly used is not clearly understood. Medical literature suggests that a person who suffered massive blood loss as being alive, but some authors may be convinced the person is not living. This ambiguity is likely the cause of its infrequent use in the medical profession today.

The word itself originated from Latin: 'ex' (out of) and 'sanguis' (blood). Therefore the word literally means 'out of blood'.

Epidemiology and Demographics

Exsanguination is a relatively uncommon and dramatic cause of death in humans.

Causes

It might be more precise to say that exsanguination is a mode of death rather than a cause, since the fact of exsanguination will have some underlying cause. It is essentially bleeding to death. Exsanguination is a suicide method caused by cutting of arteries, notably: carotid, radial, ulnar, and femoral arteries.

Trauma (injury) can cause exsanguination if bleeding is not stymied. It is the most common cause of deaths on the battlefield (though the most common cause of death from battle is infection). Non-battlefield causes can include partial or complete amputation from use of circular saws (e.g., hand-held circular saw, radial arm saw, table saw).

Patients can also develop catastrophic internal hemorrhages, such as from a bleeding peptic ulcer or splenic hemorrhage, which can cause exsanguination even without any external bleeding. It is a relatively common cause of unexpected, sudden death in patients who seemed previously well.

Alcoholics can also suffer from exsanguination. Thin-walled dilated veins just below the lower esophageal mucosa called esophageal varices may ulcerate or be torn ("Mallory-Weiss syndrome") during the violent retching of the alcoholic leading to massive bleeding and sometimes exsanguination.