To begin with, ischemia is not in itself a medical condition such as Diabetes, hypertension, etc. but a situation brought about by an abnormality and leading to other conditions some of which are severe and life threatening. Ischemia can occur at any location in the body where blood is supplied. Tissue ischemia is a condition resulting from shortage of oxygen rich blood to a particular tissue.

In ischemia, the arteries supplying oxygen rich blood is either narrowed or completely occluded resulting in insufficient or inadequate blood being supplied which does not meet the demands of the tissue in question.

The inadequate blood supply results in cell death from starvation from oxygen, nutrients, hormones and other essentially substances. Eventually, if not corrected over a period of time and based on the severity of impediment and shortage, cell death progresses until it is significant enough to affect tissue function and cause manifestations.

Situations that can cause ischemia include;

• Arterial diseases
• Thrombotic diseases
• Embolic diseases
• Artheroma’s
• And basically any situation that impedes or block effective blood flow.

Ischemia in itself can lead to serious conditions such as:

• Ischemic stroke
• Ischemic heart diseases
• Tissue death and gangrene formation
• And subsequent organ damage and in severe cases failure of any organ that suffers ischemia