FAcies Hippocratic is the most searched search term on Google in the afternoon of today 22 April, the day of the death of Pope Francis. But what does it mean? Is it a way of saying or a clinical term?
It is important to clarify that the Facies Hippocratic is not a diagnosis, but a clinical sign that can suggest the need for immediate medical attention. His observation requires competence and must be contextualized within the patient’s general clinical picture.
The Hippocratic facies, stroke and brain damage
As reported by the Corriere della Serayesterday Pope Francis woke up at 6, then at 7 he had a malaise that immediately made one think of a brain stroke. “It is damage to the persistent brain, due to vascular problems” he explains Francesca Romana Pezzella, Stroke Unit neurologist of the San Camillo hospital in Romesecretary of‘Italian Stroke Associationchair of the European plan for brain stroke.
The stroke can be caused by the closure (ischemic stroke) or by the (hemorrhagic) rupture of a cerebral artery. “In the case of the Pope, the hypothesis is that it was hemorrhagic stroke (or cerebral hemorrhage), which in the first hour is accompanied by a high risk of death. The brain tissue suffers damage and it is necessary to intervene immediately: the faster the intervention the more the possibilities of recovery increase ».
What is the Hippocratic facies
In medicine, the expression hippocratic face (in Latin, Hippocratic facies) represents the typical face, with built -in eyes and sharp features, of peritonite patients, typhoid fever and in general of the Moribondi. It is called “Hippocratic” because it was described by Hippocrates in Prognostic.
All the newspapers and information sites are talking about Hippocratic facies, an excession that indicates the typical aspect of the face in patients in the terminal phase. It is a set of unequivocal traits: Bushed eyes, hollowed face and without expression, gray skin And dehydrated, pallor around the mouth, built -in temples, tense and cold ears. But the detail that most affected the scientific community was the sharp nose: slim and very thin, due to the reduction of peripheral circulation, when therefore the less vital areas of the body begin to receive less blood and oxygen. It is a typical condition in patients advanced by cardiac, lung or systemic pathologies.
The observation of the face to read the symptoms
To better understand the meaning of the expression facies hippocratic, you can refer to the scientific system called Facs – Facial Action Coding Systemused particularly in emergency room to estimate the severity of a patient by observing the face. In the most serious patients, reduced facial expressiveness is often considered a sitnomist to pay attention to. The Hippocratic facies is common in cases of particularly serious conditions: serious bleeding, cardiac or respiratory failure, peritonitis. Those signs on the Pope’s face were already a silent but clear alarm in its meaning.
I woman © RESERVED REPRODUCTION