acute inflammation
Last reviewed 01/2018
Acute inflammation describes a generally stereotypical response of living tissue to injury. It begins rapidly after the initial insult, and is generally complete within a short duration, typically hours to a few days.
The sequence of events provides a reliable way of defending against microbiological attack whilst repair is undertaken. Disorder of any one component can lead to a range of pathological states ranging from septicaemia to chronic inflammation, excessive haemorrhage to hypertrophic scar formation.
Acute inflammation results from an interaction of both humoral - plasma based - and cellular components. It must be contrasted with chronic inflammation.