Internal haemorrhage is a type of haemorrhage that causes not only injuries and damage to the body, but also systemic diseases. Internal haemorrhage may be a symptom of e.g. gastric ulcer or inflammation of the lungs. It also often indicates the presence of neoplasms, e.g. of the lung or colon. Find out what is internal bleeding and what could be its causes.
Internal haemorrhageis a condition in which blood spills rapidly and in large amounts outside the blood vessels, usually without draining out of the body. Disruption of the continuity of arteries or veins may occur as a result of injury or in the course of systemic diseases such as tuberculosis, lung cancer, esophageal varices, gastric or duodenal ulcer, and haemophilia. Extravasation may then occur into the body cavities (e.g. to the pleura or peritoneum), to the intracranial space, to internal organs (e.g. to the lungs or liver), as well as to the lumen of the entire digestive tract (from the mouth to the anus).
You should distinguish between hemorrhage and bleeding, which is a slow blood loss caused by damage to small blood vessels.
Internal haemorrhage - causes
Theintracranial haemorrhagemost often occurs as a result of an injury (e.g. as a result of a car accident, a fall from a height). Sometimes there is also a spontaneous rupture of a large vessel in the brain, which can be favored, among others, by hypertension and diabetes.
Pulmonary haemorrhageusually accompanies chronic lung diseases, most often cancer. The second major cause of pulmonary hemorrhage is inflammatory processes, including bronchitis and pneumonia, as well as lung abscess. Tuberculosis is a less common cause of pulmonary hemorrhage. Massive true pulmonary haemorrhage is rare (1%) and is associated with bleeding disorders, pneumonia, or direct lung injury.
Gastrointestinal haemorrhage , i.e. extravasation of blood into the lumen of the gastrointestinal tract, is divided into upper segment hemorrhage when the source of the haemorrhage is within the esophagus, stomach or duodenum, and for lower hemorrhage where the source of the haemorrhage is in the gut.
The causes of upper gastrointestinal bleeding are usually gastric or duodenal ulcers, esophageal varices,reflux of the esophagus, erosion or rupture of the gastric mucosa as a result of e.g. inflammation, esophageal or stomach cancer, blood coagulation disorders, hemorrhagic diatheses.
In turn, hemorrhage from the lower gastrointestinal tract may indicate hemorrhage, infectious enteritis, polyps of the lower sections of the large intestine, diverticula of the lower sections of the large intestine, colon cancer, inflammatory bowel disease (e.g. Crohn's disease, ulcerative colitis), as well as injuries to the liver and spleen. Less often for injuries of the kidneys and urinary tract.
In both cases, long-term use of non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs and alcohol abuse may contribute to the haemorrhage. The cause may also be blood clotting disorders and hemorrhagic diatheses.