There are many diseases that endanger human life. If you do not seek help in time, you can remain disabled for life. One such disease is gangrene. Let's see why it occurs, how to treat and what is the prognosis of this disease.
What kind of disease is gangrene?
Mention of this disease was found in Hippocrates and Celsus. The word "gangrene" comes from the Greek graino, which means "to gnaw." In the old days, people called this disease "Anton fire".
Gangrene is a disease characterized by the death of body tissues. They reach black, brown or dark blue. Gangrene can spread to both tissues and organs. For example, in skin cells, subcutaneous tissue, muscles, lungs, intestines, and so on. This disease can proceed quickly or slowly.
The darkening of dead tissues is explained by the fact that hemoglobin accumulates in these areas, which secretes iron, it is converted into a s alt - iron sulfate, it is this compound that gives such a color. Most of all, gangrene affects people suffering from diseases of the heart and blood vessels in old age. When the blood flow is disturbed, the blood is badcirculates, especially in places far from the heart, so the hands and feet are most commonly affected.
How gangrene is classified
This disease is shared in several ways.
According to the composition of the affected tissue:
- dry gangrene;
- wet gangrene.
2. According to the etiology of the disease, gangrene happens:
- infectious;
- allergic;
- toxic.
3. By pathogenesis:
- gas;
- lightning;
- hospital.
As a rule, the development of the wet form proceeds quickly, and the dry gangrene develops slowly.
Causes of tissue necrosis
There are several causes of any kind of gangrene:
1. Circulatory disorders. It is broken gradually, while the lower limbs are more vulnerable. This is how dry gangrene develops. And there are also factors that can contribute to circulatory disorders:
- strongly squeezing, incorrectly applied plaster bandage, it compresses blood vessels and disrupts blood flow;
- long stay under squeezing heavy objects during disasters;
- a tourniquet that stops bleeding is on the arm or leg for a long time.
2. Diseases of the cardiovascular system:
- pathology of the heart;
- atherosclerosis;
- thrombosis;
- thromboembolism;
- obliterating endarteritis.
3. Infection. Gangrene may develop as a result of infection during an open injury. Great danger of wounds for diabetics and people with vascular disease. There are always microbes in the soil that can cause gangrene when they enter a wound:
- enterobacteria;
- E. coli;
- streptococcus;
- proteus.
The most dangerous are clostridia, which can cause gas gangrene, and they live in an environment without oxygen.
4. Frostbite and burns. Dry gangrene can occur with burns with chemical acids, as well as alkalis.
Under such influences, tissues are destroyed, blood circulation is disturbed, and the inflammatory process joins. If the body is weakened by diabetes, cardiovascular disease, infections are easier to penetrate and take over.
5. Mechanical injury.
If tissue damage occurs in a large area, infection can very easily join.
Dry gangrene is not life threatening, unlike wet gangrene. Let's consider it in more detail.
Signs and development of dry gangrene
And now about how dry gangrene arises and proceeds. Symptoms may appear in the following order:
- The appearance of severe pain in the feet and toes for no reason.
- The damaged area is initially pale in color, and then a bluish tint appears.
- Permanently cold extremities.
- Numbness is often felt.
- The affected area is wrinkled.
- The gangrene is getting smaller.
- Further the color becomes black or darkbrown.
- The affected area loses sensation.
- Pain goes away.
- There is a clear demarcation between he althy and diseased areas.
- The above symptoms do not apply to he althy areas.
- In general, the patient's condition is satisfactory, since no toxins enter the bloodstream.
Over time, the affected area dries up, may detach. It equates to recovery. The photo clearly demonstrates what the limb on which dry gangrene develops looks like.
Warning signs of illness
There are signs to watch out for. Their appearance may be the first symptom of the development of gangrene. After all, dry gangrene can develop over the years.
- Freezing limbs even in hot weather.
- Fatigue when walking, pain in the legs.
- Cramps in the limbs.
- Injuries, even small ones, do not heal for a long time on the foot or leg.
- Gangrenous area loses sensation.
- From pale to bluish, then begins to turn black.
- Sores appear on the affected area that do not heal well.
You should not leave these signs unattended, it is advisable to hurry to the doctor.
Dry and wet gangrene are two concepts that have a very thin line between each other, since the first can go into the second, and then the prognosis regarding the disease will become more gloomy. And when treating the wet form, doctors tend to achieve dry gangrene,so that it does not threaten the life of the patient.
How gangrene is diagnosed
If you find signs of gangrene development, you should consult a surgeon. You may need to consult a more specialized specialist, depending on the location of the affected area. To establish the whole picture, the doctor may ask the following questions:
- Has there been an injury?
- How did the damaged area heal?
- Does the pain bother you and are there any other symptoms?
- What is the temperature and did it rise?
- What diseases does the patient have? Diseases of the heart and blood vessels?
- What are the indicators of sugar? Is there diabetes?
If you have signs of gangrene, the following tests will be ordered:
- Complete blood count.
- Biochemical blood test. He can indicate the cause of the development of gangrene. If the specialist is concerned about your condition, there is the development of wet gangrene, a blood test is done on the spot within a few minutes.
- Blood is examined for sterility. It is possible to establish the causative agent of a developing infection.
- Bacteriological examination of discharge from the wound is underway.
- X-ray of the muscles in the affected area.
Treatment of dry gangrene
As mentioned above, gangrene affects areas far from the heart, suffering from impaired blood flow. First of all, these are the limbs, so let's consider how the treatment goes if the patient has dry gangrene of the lowerlimbs.
In order to prevent the development of the disease, at the first symptoms it is necessary to consult a doctor and begin treatment. What is the treatment?
- At the initial stage, it is advisable to try to restore normal circulation.
- Assign a vitamin complex and drugs that help improve blood circulation in small vessels.
- Medicines that stimulate the body's immune system.
- Antibiotics are prescribed, which will reduce the inflammatory process.
- Shown the application of ointments that act on the affected area.
- It is possible to prescribe physiotherapy using infrared radiation. This will speed up tissue regeneration, stop the spread of cell death, and improve blood circulation. This treatment method is gaining popularity.
- If the treatment gives good results, then physiotherapy may be prescribed.
As a rule, the general condition of the patient does not worsen if it is dry gangrene. Treatment will continue until there is a clear line separating dead and he althy tissue. Then surgery is possible.
There are several surgical techniques that have been shown to be effective against dry gangrene:
- Necrotomy. During the operation, the surgeon cuts the affected tissue in order to ensure the outflow of fluid from the inflamed area.
- Necrectomy. In this case, dead tissue is removed while he althy tissue is preserved. This manipulation can be performed in severalvisits, this allows you to save the maximum organ and tissue.
- Resection is the removal of organs if they are affected by gangrene.
- Amputation. Most often, this method is resorted to if gangrene affects the limbs. In order to prevent the spread of the process to he althy areas, if the treatment does not give the desired effect, the doctor makes such a decision.
If it is not advanced dry gangrene, treatment without amputation is possible. Stopping the process at the initial stage, the disease does not allow to take over a larger area. If the disease has gone too far, then, as a rule, it is not possible to save the affected limb.
More likely to develop gangrene in elderly bedridden patients. In this case, special care is required and a mandatory examination for vascular patency.
Folk remedies for the treatment of gangrene
Folk remedies for the treatment of gangrene can be used only after consulting a doctor. It is impossible to cure gangrene using only traditional medicine, especially in a wet state. This is dangerous for your he alth. Traditional healers offer several recipes to alleviate the condition.
- If you have dry gangrene of the foot, young shoots of pine needles can be used for treatment. Take 5 tablespoons of crushed needles, pour boiling water in a volume of 0.5 liters, boil for 10 minutes. Then keep the broth in a thermos for 12 hours. Drink every day instead of tea.
- Dry gangrene of the leg is treated as follows. Willow and willow branches boil for a few minutes. Then thisRinse the diseased area with a decoction, attach branches and fix with a bandage. Leave overnight. Remove the bandage in the morning and lubricate the affected area with honey.
- You can make an ointment to treat gangrene. To do this, you will need: honey, rosin, laundry soap, fresh lard, vegetable oil. All components are taken in 50 grams. Melt the lard, chop the soap, add the rest, put on the stove and bring to a boil. Cool and add 50 grams of crushed onion, garlic, aloe. Healing ointment is ready. Before use, heat in a water bath.
Complications of dry gangrene
Any doctor will say: if there is no appropriate and timely treatment of gangrene, it will inevitably end in irreversible tissue damage. Since gangrenous lesions can have different localization, depending on this complication may be as follows:
- Sepsis or blood poisoning. Occurs as a result of the ingress of tissue decay products into the bloodstream.
- If there is gangrene of the internal organs, then not far from peritonitis.
- Under the influence of the pathological process, the destruction of blood vessels can occur.
- Fatal.
To prevent such complications in the presence of suspicious symptoms that may indicate developing gangrene, it is necessary to consult a specialist. Only timely and competent treatment will stop the process and prevent it from developing.complications.
Forecast
For a disease such as dry gangrene, the prognosis is generally good. If you do not start the disease and do not allow the process to go into a wet form. Intoxication of the body does not occur, the general condition is normal. The dead part can itself, without surgical intervention, self-amputate. If gangrene is detected in the early stages, it is possible to localize the focus, minimizing it, which will not require surgical intervention.
If we talk about the prognosis of wet gangrene, a person's life depends on its development. Infection can spread to the heart, kidneys, liver, which can cause death of the patient. Gangrene of the internal organs requires their immediate removal.
Disease prevention
In order not to develop gangrene, it is necessary to treat all diseases that can provoke tissue necrosis.
- Timely treatment of wounds according to all the rules.
- If you have a burn or frostbite, be sure to show the damaged area to the doctor, he will prescribe the appropriate treatment.
- It is necessary to treat diseases that impair blood circulation: diseases of the heart and blood vessels.
- Treat infectious diseases in a timely manner.
- Fight bad habits.
- Diabetics need to regularly examine the lower limbs, feet for damage, so that immediate treatment can be prescribed, as such patients are at high risk of developing gangrene.
If you follow these simple recommendations, then the fact that you will overtake gangrene, you can notworry. Take care of yourself and your loved ones.
