Which type of shock results from heart pump failure?

• A. Hypovolemic Shock
• B. Cardiogenic Shock
• C. Septic Shock
• D. Neurogenic Shock

Answer: (B)

When perfusion becomes critically low because the heart can’t pump effectively, tissue oxygen delivery falls despite the presence of blood in circulation. This is cardiogenic shock. The central issue is the heart’s pump failure—for example, from a heart attack damaging the muscle, severe arrhythmias, or another form of myocardial dysfunction—which drops cardiac output and causes high filling pressures as the ventricles fill but can’t eject blood efficiently. The body may try to compensate with faster heart rate and vasoconstriction, but perfusion to organs remains inadequate, leading to signs like cold, clammy skin, shortness of breath, hypotension, and sometimes pulmonary edema from backward heart failure.

In contrast, hypovolemic shock comes from too little blood or fluids to maintain pressure, septic shock from infection causing widespread vasodilation and altered resistance, and neurogenic shock from loss of sympathetic tone that leads to vasodilation. The defining feature here is that the primary problem is the heart’s pumping ability failing to deliver forward flow, which is why this type of shock best fits the scenario.