What is the term for intravascular blood discoloration?

The term for intravascular blood discoloration is best represented by livor mortis. Livor mortis refers to the settling of blood in the lower parts of the body after death, leading to a reddish-purple discoloration of the skin due to the gravitational pull on the blood in the blood vessels. This phenomenon occurs as the heart ceases to pump, allowing blood to pool in the capillaries and veins, resulting in staining of the surrounding tissues.

Hypostasis also involves the pooling of blood but refers more broadly to the process of blood settling in response to gravity, not specifically to the discoloration due to stagnant blood within the vessels.

Rigor mortis pertains to the stiffening of the muscles post-mortem and is unrelated to blood discoloration.

Putrefaction involves the decomposition of body tissues and is also not directly related to the discoloration caused by stagnant blood.

Understanding livor mortis provides insight into both the physiological processes post-mortem and how medical professionals assess time of death based on the extent of discoloration observed in a deceased individual.