A Study on Pathophysiology | Report

Running head: PATHOPHYSIOLOGY
PATHOPHYSIOLOGY
Name of the Student
Name of the university
Author’s note

1
PATHOPHYSIOLOGY
Signs and symptoms of the patient
On diagnosis of the patient, the signs and symptoms involved contusion, bruising, breast
hematoma and lacerations to her fingers.
Pathophysiology
Contusions are mainly caused due to a direct, blunt and compressive force to a muscle. It
is caused in the patients, for being struck by any blunt object. There are no external bleeding, but
the actual damage occurs to the blood vessels, in the underlying skin, causing the blood vessels
to rupture (Gibson, Berliner, Miller & Loscalzo, 2016). Blood may pool underneath the skin by
leaking from the ruptured blood vessels. After the injury of the blood vessels, the platelets
normally collect at the site of the injury forming a plug. This is formed by the accumulation of
the platelets by the blood clotting factors forming a fibrin clot, which prevents further leakage of
blood from the blood vessels. The skin looks blackish with the coagulation of blood. The
primary stage after a tissue trauma is normally characterised by the activation of the cellular and
the molecular effectors of the innate immune system, including an activation of the complement
system and recruitment and activation of the neutrophils. The complement system plays an
important role in the removal of the pathogen that are invading, by the method of opsonisation
(Ricklin & Lambris, 2013). The generation of the anaphylatoxins by the elements of the
complement system acts as potential chemoattractants for the phagocytes and the neutrophils and
starts recruiting the immune cells to the laceration site. Cytokines, chemokine and reactive
oxygen species and the tissue toxic enzymes are secreted. Due to increased flow of the blood,
capillary permeability and the influx of the phagocytic cells the area becomes red. Erythema and