Pneumatic trousers and the management of shock.

Forty-seven patients were brought to the Emergency Department with a good blood pressure which probably would not have existed without the use of MAST Trousers. Most important, not one patient who survived the operation and immediate postoperative period developed adult respiratory distress syndrome or acute renal failure. It is our belief that prevention of prolonged hypotension in the prehospital period was a major factor in achieving this result.