Intra-Abdominal Hypertension and Abdominal Compartment Syndrome: A Review of Current Concept and Trends

Abdominal compartment syndrome (ACS) and intra-abdominal hypertension (IAH) have been a cause of complications in ICU patients, especially those of trauma and acute abdomen. ACS affects almost every system of the body namely the cardiac, respiratory, renal, CNS and the GIT. It has been under-recognized as it primarily affects patients who are already critically ill and the organ dysfunction may be incorrectly attributed to the primary illness. Since ACS can improve with treatment, it is important that the diagnosis be considered in the appropriate patient. We will review here the definition, classification, incidence, etiology, pathophysiology, clinical presentation, diagnosis and management of intraabdominal hypertension and abdominal compartment syndrome. The method employed for literature search included web search of articles in various international and national bibliographic indices. The websites used for the search include Google, PubMed, NIH.gov, Medscape.com, Science direct and Scopus.