Impact of the Non-pneumatic Antishock Garment on pelvic blood flow in healthy postpartum women

Objective: The Non-pneumatic Antishock Garment (NASG) is a compression device that has shown significantly decreased blood loss in cases of obstetric hemorrhage. However, there are no physiologic studies of the NASG in postpartum women. This study used Doppler ultrasound to measure the resistive index (RI) in the internal iliac artery, thus approximating blood flow to the pelvis with and without the garment applied. Study design: In this study, RI of the internal iliac artery was measured in a sample of 10 postpartum volunteers with and without the NASG applied. Median RI was calculated and compared between baseline and full application. Results: Internal iliac artery median RI was 0.83 (SD 0.11) at baseline and increased to 1.05 (SD 0.15) with full NASG application (P = .02). Conclusion: This study suggests a significant increase in internal iliac artery RI with NASG application and provides a physiological explanation of how the NASG might reduce postpartum hemorrhage.