History Of LifeWrap
1900s - An inflatable pressure suit was developed by Dr.George Crile. It was used to maintain blood pressure during surgery.
1940s - After undergoing numerous modifications, the suit was refined for use as an anti-gravity suit (G-suit).
1970s - The G-suit was modified into a half-suit which became known as MAST (Military Anti-Shock Trousers) or PASG (Pneumatic Anti-Shock Garment). The MAST was used in the Vietnam War for resuscitating and stabilizing soldiers with traumatic injuries before and during transportation.
1980s - The PASG garment became used more and more by emergency rescue services (EMTs) to stabilize patients with a variety of lower body injuries, including the control of pelvic and abdominal hemorrhage.
1990s - A team of scientists at NASA/AMES led by Dr. Ralph Peligra, worked to improve on the PASG by developing a non-pneumatic (non-inflatable) version of the anti-shock garment. In the early 1990s they developed a device which is known generically as the non-pneumatic anti shock garment or NASG. We call the concept of the NASG a LifeWrap.
2000s - In 2002 Dr. Paul Hensleigh, Emeritus Professor of Obstetrics and Gynecology at Stanford University Medical School published a short case series of 6 women treated with the NASG at a tertiary care hospital in Pakistan.
Dr. Suellen Miller read this article in 2003 and contacted Dr. Hensleigh to discuss global opportunities for the NASG. She was surprised to find that no-one had thought to use the NASG at the community and primary health care levels to stabilize and transport women with obstetric hemorrhage. Drs. Miller and Henseligh joined forces to make a real impact and decrease maternal death from obstetric hemorrhage.