Pasty

PASTY, a term used in pathology and clinical medicine to denote a pathological condition of tissues, primarily the skin, where in cases of slight but palpable swelling of the skin and organs or visible swelling, there are no objectively detectable edemas. In such cases, when pressing the skin with a finger, the usual depression characteristic of edemas does not remain, there is no obvious thickening of the skin coverings, and in the organs, neither an increase in their volume nor the separation of free tissue fluid is noted upon compression. Pathogenetically, pastiness is caused by impaired lymphatic circulation in the skin and corresponding tissues and the retention of tissue fluid and swelling of tissue elements, primarily connective and muscle tissues. Thus, pastiness differs from edema only quantitatively, representing only mildly expressed degrees of this pathological process.