bleeding to death?

Question

Why is someone more likely to bleed to death wen an artery is cleanly severed than when it is crushed and torn?

Answer 1

It is scary that people studying medicine or health subjects are cheating by asking their homeweork quetsions on Yahoo. I hope you never need this knowledge to save someone's life.

Unlike veins arteries have muscular walls. When an artery is torn or crushed the damage causes the muscle in the walls to spasm and that in turn causes the artery to constrict. A constricted artery has a narrower diameter, hence less blood flow, hence less blood loss.

In extreme cases even large ateries can actually constrict to the point of allowing them to clot entirely.

Answer 2

When an artery is Cleanly severed it is less apt to form clots. Blood clots form when blood particles called platelets expole through a complex cascade that ends in the creation of a stringy substance called fibronectin. It is the overlapping of fibronectin that forms the clot (or more commonly known as a scab) and stops the blood flow. A torn or crushed artery has a smaller region to block, more closely spaced arterial walls for the fibronectin to attach to, and will therefore clot faster than a cut artery which still has blood flowing through it at a rapid pace.

Answer 3

the rate of blood flow and hense the loss of blood is proportional to the volume of blood pumped through your circulatory sytem by your heart. When you sever an artery the loss of blood is more substantial due to the greater volume being able to cleanly pass through the wound under a sytem of less preassure. Often if the artery is crushed or torn the blood must pass through a higher preassure system, slower loss of blood but increased blood spray.

Answer 4

If it is crushed and torn the chances are you are going to be bleeding internally and the fact that it is crushed it is going to stop the blood from comming out.

When it is clealy severed the blood is free to flow from you body as it is on an artery the blood will actually pump out with each heart beat and its harder to control then the previous scenerio.

Answer 5

There is less surface area for the artery to start to re-attach. On a perfect cut, your body has to alighn the two ends back up. With a "sloppy" wound there are many points of contact.

Answer 6

I am not a doctor, but I'd say that a clean cut would allow more blood to escape, where a crushed and torn cut would halt the blood from coming out. I get that idea from the world "Crushed". If you take a straw, crimp it, then try to suck from it, you wouldn't get near as much fluid as you would if it weren't crimped.

Answer 7

usually it's the other way around: if it's cleanly severed, the muscles can contract and close the artery but if it's torn then the muscles contarct ineffectively

Answer 8

because if it's crushed & torn, there is most likely other tissue obstructions that slow the flow of blood. A clean cut, and the blood just whooshes out.

Answer 9

Lestermount

Answer 10

its got to do with the blood coagulation response. A ragid cut triggers a more dramatic clotting response because of the great area of tissue damage.