Circulatory shock

Inability to maintain adequate blood flow through peripheral tissues and arterial blood pressure.

Cause:

• The imbalance between the volume of blood and the volume of the vascular bed caused by:
  • reduced blood volume (hypovolemic shock, cold shock)
  • by increasing the capacity of the vascular bed (distributive shock, warm shock)

Hypovolemic shock:

• Hemorrhage
• Burns (hematocrit, toxins, pain)
• Dehydration (AB balance)

Distribution shock:

• Anaphylaxis (bronchoconstriction)
• Sepsis (fever, toxins)
• Neurogenic vasodilation

The shock phase:

• initial (activation of compensatory mechanisms)
• Progressive (failure of compensatory mechanisms)

Consequences:

• Tissue ischemia and microcirculation
• Consequences of damage to individual organs

Treatment:

• Maintaining the volume of circulating fluid
• Sympathomimetics
• Corticosteroids

Links:

Related articles:

• Rival
• Venous return
• Regulation of blood pressure

Source:

• • VÍZEK, Martin. Repetitorium [online]. [cit. 2011-11-02]. <https://web.archive.org/web/20130512032641/http://pf.lf2.cuni.cz/vyuka/repetitorium.html>.