Mast pants

[CFRBryan347768]

can some one please tell me what they are, and why it is out of protocol? and if you can die from it?

[VentMedic]

http://www.ems1.com/Columnists/bryan...T-Will-Not-Die

The MAST Will Not Die

by Bryan E. Bledsoe

[JPINFV]

Medical Anti-Shock Trousers, also known as Pneumatic Anti Shock Garment (PASG) are essentially large inflatable pants. As with many other things of EMS past and present, it's one of those treatments that looks good on paper, but really has little affect for its primary use. Here is an interesting commentary and literature review regarding MAST pants from Dr. Bledsoe.

There is some argument, though, for their use in stabilizing pelvic fxs, but there are also other tools/methods to achieve the same stabilization (pelvic wrap, KED (also an 'off-label' use)).

[JPINFV]

Vent sniped my link :(

[CFRBryan347768]

thank you!!

[Ridryder911]

PASG/MAST although regarded by many as a dead subject and no longer valid tool is actually making a come back. As many have finally seen, many of the studies were poorly flawed and even though the outcomes were dismissal, the outcomes would probably been dismal anyway.

I just attended a trauma course where some surgeons were re-addressing PASG in the use of trauma again. Albeit, the protocol and methods were different than previous studies (which most EMS that used them, never used the studies method). I do know they work, but the applications are different.

Time will tell, and we continue to see more trials and tests...

R/r 911

[skyemt]

Originally Posted by Ridryder911

PASG/MAST although regarded by many as a dead subject and no longer valid tool is actually making a come back. As many have finally seen, many of the studies were poorly flawed and even though the outcomes were dismissal, the outcomes would probably been dismal anyway.

I just attended a trauma course where some surgeons were re-addressing PASG in the use of trauma again. Albeit, the protocol and methods were different than previous studies (which most EMS that used them, never used the studies method). I do know they work, but the applications are different.

Time will tell, and we continue to see more trials and tests...

R/r 911

we still carry them on our rigs, but have basically never been used...
Rid, what uses do you see for them... under what conditions do you think they would be useful?

[firetender]

All I can say is, while a paramedic in the late 1970's (when MAST was all the rage!) and through the mid-eighties, I had good fortune with them in trauma-related cases.

One stands out still. A teenaged gang-banger was stabbed in the back. His pulmonary vein was hit and he bled out. Almost pulseless on scene, and with negligible BP we got him into the trousers and a couple large bore IV's going. By the time we got him to the hospital he had a much better pulse and BP and made it right into and through surgery. Even the surgeon, a man who was quite skeptical of the new program gave us a "Job well done!" He very gradually released the pressure of the suit as he worked and the pts BP stabilized.

I also had a Doctor kill another patient by ripping the trousers off him, exclaiming (I still wince at the horror!) "What IS this??"" It was both stabilizing a traumatically amputated leg (a tourniquet was secured, also) and raising his BP enough to get him into the ER alive.

I can attest to this; once the pressure of the MAST was released, the young man's BP plummeted and he was gone. That tells me that if its removal kills, its staying in place made a difference. No, it may not be scientific, but in my world, experience trumps all.

I used the tool sparingly and only under the most dire of circumstances. I never experienced any glitches that caused me to question its efficacy. Still, I recognized it as a last resort rather than a first line of defense.

[JPINFV]

Originally Posted by firetender

No, it may not be scientific, but in my world, experience trumps all.

Must. Keep. Mouth. Shut.

[paramedix]

All of our MAST packs have been removed from the vehicles. I don't even think that we still have them in logistic stores...

Although it is in our protocol to use, I have never seen it being used on the road. We used it in class during training and that's as far as it went.

I have asked the same question a few times before... and most of the replies were similar. The overall effect the suit has is sometimes so small and doesn't really makes that much difference. Although in previous threads the MAST suit got a hands up, I cannot say from my personal experience that it works - only opinion based on what I've read from case reviews.