Abstract
Open abdomen management – indications, temporary abdominal closure (TAC) techniques as well as critical care management – has changed considerably in the last decade. As a result of better insight into intra-abdominal hypertension (IAH) and abdominal compartment syndrome (ACS), greater experience and improvements in TAC techniques, outcomes of patients requiring open abdomen management have improved, despite increased severity of illness and more severe underlying abdominal conditions.
The open abdomen has always been an intensivist’s (and patient’s) worst nightmare, mostly because the conditions requiring open abdomen management were difficult to handle from a surgical perspective, often with a protracted stay in the intensive care unit (ICU), uncontrolled septic sources and persistent multiple organ dysfunction syndrome (MODS). It is now clear that opening a patient’s abdomen and leaving it open no longer means the beginning of a lengthy disease leaving the patient with a giant hernia and fistulas requiring a long stay in the ICU and multiple surgical procedures. In this chapter, we will highlight the recent advances in this field and discuss remaining challenges in critically ill patients requiring an open abdomen.
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De Waele, J.J., Malbrain, M.L.N.G. (2015). Open Abdomen Management: Challenges and Solutions for the ICU Team. In: Vincent, JL. (eds) Annual Update in Intensive Care and Emergency Medicine 2015. Annual Update in Intensive Care and Emergency Medicine 2015, vol 2015. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-13761-2_32
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-13761-2_32
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