Decubitus ulcers and gangrene are examples of which process?

• A. Necrobiosis
• B. Necrosis
• C. Apoptosis
• D. Autolysis

Answer: (B)

Necrosis is tissue death resulting from irreversible injury, such as prolonged loss of blood flow or severe infection. In decubitus ulcers, sustained pressure reduces blood supply to skin and underlying tissues, causing ischemic necrosis that leads to ulcer formation. Gangrene represents extensive tissue necrosis that often becomes infected and breaks down further. This differs from apoptosis, which is a controlled, programmed cell death that typically limits inflammation, and from autolysis, which is self-digestion of cells after death rather than disease-driven tissue destruction. Necrobiosis is degeneration associated with chronic disease, not the acute tissue death pattern seen in these conditions. So the process at work here is necrosis.