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CALOR = heat |
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RUBOR = redness |
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TUMOUR = swelling |
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DOLOUR = pain |
INFLAMMATION
| REFLECTION
Inflammation is the immediate reaction of the body to any type of tissue injury. Think about whenever you have had an injury, even a simple thing like a little scratch. Describe your body's response to this injury. What do you think is the value to bodies of this inflammatory response? |
In all tissue injuries, even a tiny scratch, there are four responses in particular.
These four responses are redness, heat, swelling, and pain.
These are the classic features of acute inflammation.
If
you have difficulty in remembering these, and you happen to be a former
classics scholar, like me, try to remember:
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So let's have a look at what happened when you had your accident or you had a scratch.
1. Tissue damage resulted in the release of tissue enzymes and chemicals such as serotonin and histamine.
2. These tissue enzymes caused the blood vessel walls to dilate by paralysing the muscles of the arteries.
3. As the blood vessel walls dilate, they become more permeable to blood, causing more blood to flow into the area, and it was this that resulted in the redness, the swelling, and the heat.
4. In addition, some of the chemicals released acted on the sensory nerve endings around the injury site, and this caused the pain.
Swelling at the site of the information was caused not only by increased tissue fluid, but also by an accumulation of cells at the site, particularly the polymorphonuclear leucocytes.
As well as macrophages/monocytes and neutrophils, basophils and mast cells are especially involved in the inflammatory reaction.