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Apoplexy

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Apoplexy is a medical term, which can be used to mean 'bleeding' in a cerebrovascular accident. However, without further specification it is rather outdated, and is today rather used for specific conditions, such as pituitary apoplexy and ovarian apoplexy. It can be used non-medically to mean a state of extreme rage or excitement. The word derives from the Greek word apoplēxia (Template:Polytonic).

Neurological impairment

Apoplexy has been used as a synonym for "stroke".[1]

Historical meaning

Historically[when?], the word "apoplexy" was also used to describe any sudden death that began with a sudden loss of consciousness, especially one in which the victim died within a matter of seconds after losing consciousness. The word "apoplexy" may have been used to describe the symptom of sudden loss of consciousness immediately preceding death and not an actual verified disease process. Sudden cardiac deaths, ruptured cerebral aneurysms, certain ruptured aortic aneurysms, and even heart attacks may have been described as apoplexy in the past.

Hemorrhage

The term "apoplexy" is used to describe bleeding within internal organs. In such usage it is coupled with an adjective describing the site of the bleeding. For example, bleeding within the pituitary gland is called pituitary apoplexy, and bleeding within the adrenal glands can be called adrenal apoplexy.

In both pituitary and adrenal apoplexy, the word apoplexy refers to both hemorrhage with the gland and to accompanying neurological problems such as confusion, headache, and impairment of consciousness.

Deaths attributed to apoplexy

Non-medical usage

Colloquially, particularly in the adjective form apoplectic, apoplexy means furious, enraged, or upset to the point of being unable to deal with a situation rationally or diplomatically.

See also

References

  1. ^ Apoplexy at MedicineNet.com.
  2. ^ The New York Times, January 26, 1947: "Capone Dead at 48". The New York Times. January 26, 1947. Retrieved October 12, 2010.
  3. ^ The New York Times, November 20, 1908: "Dowager Empress died of Apoplexy". The New York Times. November 20, 1908. Retrieved April 25, 2010.
  4. ^ "Leonhard Euler (1707 - 1783)".
  5. ^ Mein Kampf by Adolf Hitler, 4%
  6. ^ The New York Times, February 19, 1915: "H. Ward Leonard Dies -Electrical Inventor Stricken". The New York Times.
  7. ^ a b Ferguson Nisbet, John. The Insanity of Genius and the General Inequality of Human Faculty. Elibron Classics. ISBN 1421272997.
  8. ^ St. Hilaire, "Military Household of the Emperor." Sixth Book, 1806. Napoleon Series. Robert Burnham, editor in chief. September 2005. Accessed 18 May 2010. Template:Fr icon Mullié Charles. "Michel Ordener." Biographie des célébrités militaires des armées de terre et de mer de 1789 à 1850, Paris, 1852.
  9. ^ The New York Times, December 18, 1894: "Death of R. L. Stevenson". The New York Times. Retrieved April 25, 2010.
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