Venous Return and the Pneumatic Antishock Garment in Hypovolemic Baboons

The pneumatic antishock garment is widely used in trauma patients because it compresses small veins and should augment venous return. If the garment does augment venous return, it should probably be used in all injured patients in shock, regardless of injuries and regardless of anticipated transport time. On the other hand, the garment could distort and narrow large retroperitoneal and abdominal veins and impede venous return. We quantitated venous return in normovolemic and hypovolemic baboons. The garment both augmented and impeded venous return, the two effects counteracting each other. We believe that the pneumatic antishock garment should be used selectively.