does MAST make a difference?
Military anti-shock trousers (MAST) have achieved widespread civilian usage because of reported effectiveness in treating hypovolemic shock. The literature, however, consists of either case reports or series in which no controls were evaluated. No published reports exist which compare similar groups of patients treated with and without MAST in the pre-hospital setting. We reviewed the paramedic and emergency department records of 226 patients sustaining moderate to severe trauma who were transported to San Francisco General Hospital by paramedics over a 15 month period. MAST usage during this period was approximately random as a result of logistical and training constraints. For analysis, patients were divided into two groups: those in whom MAST was applied and inflated during transport and those in whom it was not used. Paramedic interventions other than MAST were similar in both groups. Trauma Scores (TS), and blood pressure index (greater than 90 = 4, 70-89 = 3, 50-69 = 2, 0-49 = 1,
