Cardiogenic shock is usually defined as primary cardiac dysfunction with low cardiac output leading to critical organ hypoperfusion, and tissue hypoxia, resulting in high mortality rate between 40% and 50% despite recent advances. Many studies have now evidenced that cardiogenic shock not only involves systemic macrocirculation, such as blood pressure, left ventricular ejection fraction, or cardiac output, but also involves significant systemic microcirculatory abnormalities which seem strongly associated with the outcome. Although microcirculation has been widely studied in the context of septic shock showing heterogeneous alterations with clear evidence of macro and microcirculation uncoupling, there is now a growing body of literature focusing on cardiogenic shock states. Even if there is currently no consensus regarding the treatment of microcirculatory disturbances in cardiogenic shock, some treatments seem to show a benefit. Furthermore, a better understanding of the underlying pathophysiology may provide hypotheses for future studies aiming to improve cardiogenic shock prognosis.

Most reviews about cardiogenic shock still focus mainly on systemic macrocirculation parameters, such as blood pressure, left ventricular ejection fraction, or cardiac index to explain the pathophysiology.

However, mortality and outcomes in cardiogenic shock are also strongly associated with microcirculation disorders that are not necessarily correlated with those of the macrocirculation.

Although microcirculation has been widely studied in the context of septic shock, there is now a growing body of literature focusing on cardiogenic shock.