Swollen legs in the elderly

Introduction Lower extremity edema is a common symptom in the elderly. The appearance of this edema often indicates that you have a certain disease, so you should go to the hospital to check the cause. The doctor examines whether a person has edema of the lower extremities. Generally, the finger is pressed against the anterior medial or medial iliac of the intestine. If there is a significant depression after pressing here, the edema is considered to be edema, and the deeper the depression, the heavier the edema. Called "depression edema" to distinguish "non-depressed edema" caused by hypothyroidism.

Cause

Common diseases that cause edema in the lower extremities of the elderly include heart disease, liver disease, kidney disease, and malnutrition.

an examination

Related inspection

Bone and joint soft tissue CT examination of bone and joint MRI

1, heart failure caused by coronary heart disease, hypertension and pulmonary heart disease, the occurrence of edema is more common in the bilateral crotch, more obvious in the afternoon.

2, suffering from cirrhosis, more liver disease or long-term alcohol abuse history, but also from the lower limbs, followed by ascites, and can gradually develop into systemic edema.

3, suffering from chronic nephritis, pyelonephritis, diabetic nephropathy, etc., can also appear in both lower extremity edema, but early in the first two bilateral eyelids or facial edema, often the most obvious when getting up in the morning, and then gradually developed to the whole body edema.

4, some older people, due to a certain chronic disease (tuberculosis, tumor, enteritis, etc.) or too little nutrient intake, can cause severe malnutrition, and the formation of hypoproteinemia, can also appear in both lower limbs and even the whole body edema.

5, the decline of an organ in the elderly causes dysfunction, such as decreased cardiac output, decreased renal blood flow, subcutaneous tissue relaxation, reduced skin evaporation, cell shrinkage, intracellular fluid spillover, etc., can also cause edema.

Differential diagnosis

Differential diagnosis of calf edema in the elderly:

1, lower extremity edema: divided into physiological edema and pathological edema. Lower extremity edema is common in clinical practice, mainly seen in the following diseases.

1 heart edema, suffering from a variety of heart disease patients, when the heart is insufficiency, systemic circulation disorders, so that the lower extremity veins return to the heart and blood volume, causing edema.

2 hepatic edema, after various liver cirrhosis, due to the reduction of liver synthesis of albumin, resulting in hypoproteinemia, decreased plasma osmotic pressure, can cause plant limb edema.

3 renal edema, acute and chronic, nephritis or nephrotic syndrome patients, glomerular filtration function is reduced, causing water retention in the body, in addition to a large amount of proteinuria, resulting in hypoproteinemia, resulting in edema.

4 hypothyroidism edema, hypothyroidism, the patient's dermal layer of mucopolysaccharide deposition, accumulation of a large amount of transparent garden, chondroitin sulfate and water, can cause lower extremity edema.

5 lower extremity deep venous edema, lower extremity deep phlebitis or lower limb venous insufficiency, due to venous return obstruction, patients may have lower extremity edema.

2, diffuse edema of the lower extremity: diffuse edema of the lower extremity means that the edema starts from the lower extremity and is diffuse.

3, legs and feet edema: when the body increases too much water can not be discharged, it is edema. At the same time as weight gain, there will be eyelid swelling, ankle or calf edema.

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