The haemodynamic pattern and myocardial oxygen, pyruvate and lactate metabolism elicited by experimental hemorrhagic shock in the unanaesthetized dog, in which electromagnetic flow-meters had previously been implanted around the circumflex branch of the left coronary artery and ascending aorta, catheters chronically-inserted into the aorta and coronary sinus, were studied. There were little changes in coronary blood flow, myocardial O2-consumption, lactate and pyruvate blood levels, Δ-redox potential, Δ L/P or excess lactate before the blood pressure had dropped to irreversible shock level. When mean arterial pressure dropped to approximately 40 mm Hg, myocardial O2-consumption and coronary blood flow fell abruptly, while lactate and pyruvate arterial and venous levels increased markedly; Δ-redox potential, Δ L/P and excess lactate values were unchanged or improved. This seems to indicate that even in irreversible shock there is no shift towards anaerobic metabolism of the heart.