Abdominal compliance: A bench-to-bedside review.

Annika Reintam Blaser1, Martin Björck, Bart De Keulenaer

  • 1From the Department of Anaesthesiology, Intensive Care, Emergency and Pain Medicine (A.R.B.), Lucerne Cantonal Hospital, Lucerne, Switzerland; Department of Anaesthesiology and Intensive Care (A.R.B.), University of Tartu, Tartu, Estonia; Section of Vascular Surgery (M.B.), Department of Surgical Sciences, Uppsala University, Uppsala, Sweden; Intensive Care Medicine (B.D.K., A.R.), Fremantle Hospital; and Medical School (A.R.), The University of Notre Dame Australia, Fremantle; and Schools of Surgery (B.D.K.), and School of Medicine and Pharmacology (A.R.), The University of Western Australia, Crawley; and Intensive Care Unit, Murdock Private Hospital (B.D.K.), Western Australia, Australia.

Summary

Abdominal compliance (AC), the ease of abdominal expansion, is crucial for laparoscopic surgery. Reduced AC increases risks of intra-abdominal hypertension and abdominal compartment syndrome in critically ill patients.

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