Shock

The Three-Part Delivery System Breaking Down

Shock is like a city's water system failing. The tank holds water (blood volume), the pump moves it through pipes (the heart pumping into vessels), and the pipes themselves can open wide or squeeze tight to control pressure (vasoconstriction and vasodilation). When the tank springs a leak and loses water (hypovolemic shock), the pump can't move enough flow downstream no matter how hard it works. When the pump breaks—its engine seizes (cardiogenic shock)—water backs up behind it and flow downstream stops. When the pipes burst open everywhere at once (distributive shock), the same amount of water spreads thin across the system and pressure plummets, so water can't reach the neighborhoods that need it. Or when a pipe gets kinked (obstructive shock), water can't flow through at all. In every case, the neighborhoods (organs) stop getting the water (oxygen) they need to function, and the city (body) starts to die from the inside out.