| Ecchymosis
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Etiology
•Trauma or bleeding/clotting disorder
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Pathogenesis
•As a result of trauma, blood escapes from the vascular
tree and accumulates in the tissues.,
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Epidemiology
•Common
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General Gross Description
•Ecchymosis is an area of hemorrhage into the skin and
subcutaneous tissue >1 cm in diameter.
•An ecchymosis is often the result of injury; however,
clotting and bleeding disorders can predispose to the
formation of an ecchymosis.
•Grossly, an ecchymosis presents as a bluish lesion at the
earliest stages of onset.
•As the red blood cells in the lesion undergo
progressive degeneration and the hemoglobin becomes
converted through bilirubin into hemosiderin, the
lesion progressively changes color from blue through
green through purple to finally a brownish discoloration.
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General Microscopic Description
•Histologically, the lesion is characterized by the
presence of red blood cells lying outside of
capillaries.
•With time there is infiltration by inflammatory cells,
primarily macrophages in which hemosiderin deposition
can be seen several weeks to months after initial lesion.
•Ecchymosis has no clinical significance other than a cosmetic
appearance, especially when it occurs around the face,
in particular the orbit, where it is referred to as
a "black eye."
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Clinical Correlation
•The trauma causing the lesion is of greater significance
than the ecchymosis itself.
•The same is true if the patient is developing these
lesions with no obvious trauma.
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References
Lee, GR et.al. Wintrobe's clinical hematology, 9th. ed. Philadelphia, Lea & Febiger, 1993, pp. 1302.
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| Ecchymosis
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| Synopsis by: T.V.Rajan, M.D., Ph.D. (T01000M37010)[519]
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