Transcripts
DR. BRANDT:
So we heard this morning about the damage from the toxin itself. And then there's a second cause of damage in HUS, and that's the hypoxia or cell suffocation, as I think of it. HUS can induce hypoxia in areas where blood vessels are full of clots. If the hypoxia is mild and not too prolonged such that the cells burst or die, the cells can eventually repair themselves.
On the other hand, cell necrosis or tissue death is not repairable. So if the cells are all damaged beyond repair, that area of tissue is replaced with scar formation. Scarring would be permanent injury and it leads to some loss of function. And whether that loss of function is significant or not
depends in large part on the amount of scar formation you have versus repairable tissue injury.
