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decompensation

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decompensation /de·com·pen·sa·tion/ (de″kom-pen-sa´shun)
1. inability of the heart to maintain adequate circulation, marked by dyspnea, venous engorgement, and edema.
2. in psychiatry, failure of defense mechanisms resulting in progressive personality disintegration.

de·com·pen·sa·tion (dkm-pn-sshn)
n.
1. Failure of the heart to maintain adequate blood circulation, marked by labored breathing, engorged blood vessels, and edema.
2. The appearance or exacerbation of a mental disorder due to failure of defense mechanisms.

decompensation
[dē′kəmpənsā′shən]
Etymology: L, de + compensare, to balance
1 the failure of a system, as cardiac decompensation in heart failure.
2 (in psychology) the failure of a defense mechanism.

decompensation [de″kom-pen-sa´shun]
1. any failure of homeostatic mechanisms.
2. inability of the heart to maintain adequate circulation; it is marked by dyspnea, venous engorgement, cyanosis, and edema.
3. in psychiatry, the failure of defense mechanisms, which results in progressive personality disintegration.

decompensation (dē·kmˈ·pen·sāˑ·shn),
n 1. a persistent (yet reversible, in some cases) pattern of dysfunction, in which homeostatic mechanisms are overwhelmed, either in part or completely.
2. postural pattern in which the musculoskeletal system indicates dysfunctional ad-justments as a result of a physical anomaly, such as shortened leg.

decompensation
failure of compensation.

cardiac decompensation
inability of the heart to maintain adequate circulation; it is marked by dyspnea, venous engorgement, cyanosis and edema.

decompensation
Failure of an organ to fulfill its function adequately. Examples: corneal decompensation following years of extended contact lens wear; a failure of the eye movement system to overcome a heterophoria.

decompensation
Medtalk An acute exacerbation or worsening of a clinical condition–eg schizophrenia, renal failure, liver failure, which had been held in check by compensatory mechanisms Psychiatry The exacerbation of a mental condition–eg schizophrenia, that occurs when corrective mechanisms cannot maintain the individual at an optimal level of functioning; the deterioration of existing defenses, leading to an exacerbation of pathologic behavior. See Nervous breakdown.


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Many have had documented evidence of decompensation during their pregnancies that was minimized.
However, the third phase of the GAS is exhaustion, and results in pathophysiologic decompensation (Mitchell, Gallucci, & Fought, 1991).
Despite these associations and evidence of decompensation in patients with cirrhosis from preexisting liver disease in developing countries (14,15), whether HEV causes fulminant hepatitis among those with chronic liver disease who live in the United States is unknown.
 
 
 
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