Shock in infants and children.

Physiologic data obtained from infants and children in shock indicate that there is a high frequency of abnormalities that can only be discovered with pulmonary artery catheters. Cardiogenic shock is a low-output, high-resistance condition, and septic shock is a relatively high-output, low-resistance condition. The use of pulmonary artery catheter data demonstrates that optimal therapeutic goals can be estimated and basic pathophysiologic abnormalities can be discovered.