ABSTRACT
HISTORIC CONCEPTS OF SHOCK From the latter half of the nineteenth century through the twentieth century, the concepts and defi nitions of shock have been varied and often considered mutually exclusive (Table 2.1). During the fi rst half of the twentieth century, the advocates of hypovolemic hypoperfusion as the principle etiology of shock (e.g., Blalock and Wiggers) vigorously opposed the advocates of circulating toxins as the mechanism (e.g., Cannon) (1-4). As the twenty-fi rst century has proceeded, this same advocacy continues, but the necessity of exclusivity has dissipated.
