Impact of non pneumatic anti shock garment in reducing postpartum haemorrhage - a tertiary centre experience

Objective: To compare the effect of a non-pneumatic anti-shock garment (NASG) on blood loss from obstetric haemorrhage with standard management of obstetric haemorrhage. Methods: This is an observational study of consecutive obstetric haemorrhage cases before and after the introduction of the non-pneumatic anti-shock garment conducted in a tertiary care centre in Southern India. A total of 122 women were included in the study out of which, 48 women were in the pre-intervention group and 74 in the post-intervention group. Blood loss was measured and recorded before and after the introduction of NASG. Results: The number of patients with significant blood loss (>750 ml) decreased from 81.3% to 50% after the use of NASG. The number of women with shock index >0.7 also reduced significantly from 81.3% to 56.8% thus reflecting the lower number of women requiring blood transfusion in the post-intervention group (56.2% v/s 14.9%). There was also a decrease in the number of cases requiring surgical management in the post NASG intervention group with a significant p-value of