A patient with tissue hypoxia due to sepsis is experiencing which type of hypoxia?

• A. Stagnant hypoxia
• B. Hypemic hypoxia
• C. Histotoxic hypoxia
• D. Infectious hypoxia

Answer: (A)

The main idea is distinguishing how oxygen delivery to tissues becomes limited. In sepsis, the problem isn’t that the blood can’t carry oxygen or that the cells can’t use it; it’s that blood flow to tissues is impaired. Circulatory dysfunction, vasodilation, capillary leakage, and microcirculatory abnormalities reduce or unevenly distribute blood, so tissues aren’t receiving enough oxygen despite adequate arterial oxygen content. That scenario fits stagnant hypoxia, where the delivery of oxygen to tissues is limited by reduced or stagnant blood flow.

Hypemic hypoxia would be due to a diminished oxygen-carrying capacity of the blood (like anemia or abnormal hemoglobin). Histotoxic hypoxia involves cells being unable to use oxygen even when it’s delivered (as in certain toxins). Infectious hypoxia isn’t a standard physiologic classification.