Apoplexy (from Ancient Greek ἀποπληξία (apoplexia) 'a striking away') refers to the rupture of an internal organ and the associated symptoms. Informally or metaphorically, the termapoplexy is associated with being furious, especially as "apoplectic". Historically, it described what is now known as ahemorrhagic stroke, typically involving a ruptured blood vessel in the brain; modern medicine typically specifies the anatomical location of the bleeding, such as cerebral apoplexy,ovarian apoplexy, orpituitary apoplexy.[1][2][3]
From the late 14th to the late 19th century, the diagnosisapoplexy referred to any sudden death that began with abrupt loss of consciousness, especially when the victim died within seconds after losing consciousness. The wordapoplexy was sometimes used to refer to the symptom of sudden loss of consciousness immediately preceding death.Strokes, rupturedaortic aneurysms, and evenheart attacks were referred to as apoplexy in the past, because before the advent ofbiomedical science, the ability to differentiate abnormal conditions and diseased states was limited. Althoughphysiology, as a medical field, dates back at least to the time ofHippocrates, until the late 19th century, physicians often had inadequate or inaccurate understandings of many of the human body's normal functions and abnormal presentations. Hence, identifying a specific cause of a symptom or of death often proved difficult or impossible.[4][5][6][7][8]
To specify the site of bleeding, the term "apoplexy" is often accompanied by a descriptiveadjective. For instance, bleeding within thepituitary gland is termed "pituitary apoplexy", and bleeding within theadrenal glands is referred to as "adrenal apoplexy".[9]
Apoplexy also includeshemorrhaging within the gland and accompanyingneurological problems, such as confusion, headache, and impairment of consciousness.[10]
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The dictionary definition ofapoplexy at Wiktionary
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