Edema (BE: oedema, formerly known as dropsy) is swelling of any organ or tissue due to accumulation of excess fluid. Edema has many root causes, but its common mechanism is accumulation of fluid into the tissues.
Types of edema are pitting edema and non-pitting edema. The former is present if pressing of the affected body part creates a small pit that disappears within a few seconds. Non-pitting edema is not compressible.
In generalised oedema, fluid accumulates in any of the tissues, but especially in the air spaces of the lungs and in the spaces in the abdomen surrounding the bowels and other organs (the peritoneal cavity).
Oedema may be visible as an obvious puffiness of the face, the ankles or the small of the back.
Oedema is treated by correcting the cause, where possible, and by the use of diuretic drugs that increase the urinary water output.
Oedema is swelling of any organ or tissue due to accumulation of excess lymph fluid, without an increase of the number of cells in the affected tissue.
Oedema without a modifier usually refers to peripheral or dependent oedema, the accumulation of fluid in the parts of the body that are most affected by gravity.
Oedema of specific organs (cerebral oedema, pulmonary oedema, macular oedema) may also occur, each with different specific causes to peripheral oedema, but all based on the same principles.
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