Types of Edema

Edema is present in certain tissues of abnormal accumulation of fluid within the body. the accumulation of fluid may be under the skin - usually in structured areas including the legs (peripheral edema, or ankle edema), or it may accumulate in the lungs (pulmonary edema). The area of edema can provide the healthcare practitioner it will show the primary clues in regard to the underlying cause of the fluid accumulation in the body.

Peripheral edema

The peripheral signs edema includes swelling of the affected place(s), which causes the encompassing skin to "tighten." The swelling from peripheral edema is gravity-dependent (it will grow or decrease with changes in body position). For example, if someone is mendacity on their back (supine), the swelling will not appear in the legs but will appear in the area around the sacrum. The skin over the swollen areas are appearing tight and it will be shiny, and often when pressure is applied to the region with a finger, an indentation appears then it is referred to as pitting edema.

Pulmonary Edema

In the case of pulmonary edema, there is often no evidence of fluid retention or noticeable swelling on examination of the patient's extremities. this is because the fluid is backing up into the lungs. symptoms and signs of pulmonary edema consist of:

•             Shortness of breath,

•             Difficulty respiration when mendacity flat,

•             Waking up breathless, and

•             Requiring more than one pillow to raise the head at night for a comfortable sleep.

Causes of edema:

The purpose of fluid leaking into the surrounding tissues may be the result of several mechanisms, for instance:

•             Too much force, or pressure inside the blood vessels;

•             A force outside of the blood vessel causes the fluid to be drawn through it; or

•             The wall of the blood vessel is compromised and can't preserve equilibrium, main to fluid loss.

Examples include in the following.

Pregnancy:  At some stage of pregnancy it may occur because pregnant women have a more volume of fluid circulating in the body and because they also retain more fluid. A female may also experience postpartum edema.

Medicines: It will cause by a spread of medications, i.e. steroids, calcium channel blockers (CCBs), thiazolidinedione’s, nonsteroidal, capsules (NSAIDs), estrogens, and so forth.

Liver disease and/or kidney disease: These both organs are important in maintaining fluid balance in the body, and if a severe disease is present in both of these organ systems, edema can develop. Examples include cirrhosis of the liver, chronic kidney disease, and acute kidney failure.

Venous insufficiency: It is a normal circumstance in which blood does not return to the heart efficiently from the peripheral areas of the body (for example, the ankles, legs, toes, hands), which results in the edema. Mainly it will show the results on both legs.

Heart failure: If the heart is vulnerable and it can't pump the blood back efficiently, blood will pool mainly areas of the body, which will cause fluid to leak from the blood vessels into the surrounding tissues.

If the right side of the heart is weak, the pressure will be more in the peripheral tissues in the body (fingers, ankles, feet, legs). This is referred to as peripheral edema.

If the left side of the heart is weak, the stress will be more in the lungs, inflicting pulmonary edema.

Idiopathic edema: Accumulation of fluid in surrounding tissues without an identifiable cause is called idiopathic edema.

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