WHAT DOES OEDEMA MEAN?
To understand what the term “oedema” means, we must explain what happens to water in the body.
We can say that water in the body is distributed in compartments: water found in cells or “intracellular” water, water in the vessels or “intravascular water”, and the water between both or “interstitial water”. The interstitial and intravascular compartments form the so called extracellular space. Under normal conditions, two thirds of the body is found in the intracellular compartment and the remaining third in the extracellular compartment, with a fifth part being intravascular (plasmatic compartment) and the rest is found in the interstitial space.
Oedema is a sign that appears in multiple diseases and that manifests as inflammation or swelling of soft tissue due to excessive accumulation of liquids in the interstitial space. This liquid comes from the plasma and accumulates because passage from the vascular to the interstitial compartment has been favoured in some way.