Proper management of critically ill patients requires the integration of multiple pieces of clinical, laboratory and physiologic information. Elevated intraabdominal pressure is increasingly recognized as one of the physiologic parameters that should be measured since it negatively impacts most of the organ systems of the body leading to prolonged ventilator times, higher ICU costs and increased mortality.1, 2 Furthermore, outcomes studies confirm that using IAP data to direct simple bedside clinical interventions and surgical decision making can result in improved outcomes with less resource utilization.1, 3 To realize these outcome and financial improvements a simple, reliable method of monitoring intraabdominal pressure must be employed.
Use of non-standardized measurement systems that lack validation by in vivo reliability and reproducibility data allow for variability in technique and performance and may result in progression toward full blown abdominal compartment syndrome. To enhance outcomes, an IAP monitoring system must be easy enough to use that the ICU staff become proponents of monitoring and are willing to measure the IAP in all high risk patients.
The AbViser fulfills these requirements. The AbViser intraabdominal pressure monitoring system provides all materials needed for abdominal pressure monitoring in one package, it takes only a few minutes to set up and then requires approximately 30 seconds per use to accurately measure intra-abdominal pressure. Because it is so simple and fast, nursing staff and clinicians become proactive in obtaining the IAP data to assess complex patients. Studies confirm the AbViser provides reproducible data across a broad group of users in a clinical setting.4 Multiple international multicenter trials utilize the AbViser to standardize care and monitoring and several institutions have published data demonstrating reduced ICU length of stay, fewer days on the ventilator and improved survival in patients who had IAP monitored using the AbViser.3-6
View Fluid Resuscitation & Intra-Abdominal Hypertension Video.
1. Cheatham ML, Safcsak K. Is the evolving management of intra-abdominal hypertension and abdominal compartment syndrome improving survival? Critical care medicine 2010;38:402-7.
2. Cheatham ML, Malbrain ML, Kirkpatrick A, et al. Results from the International Conference of Experts on Intra-abdominal Hypertension and Abdominal Compartment Syndrome. II. Recommendations. Intensive care medicine 2007;33:951-62.
3. Batacchi S, Matano S, Nella A, et al. Vacuum-assisted closure device enhances recovery of critically ill patients following emergency surgical procedures. Critical care (London, England) 2009;13:R194.
4. Kimball EJ, Mone MC, Wolfe TR, Baraghoshi GK, Alder SC. Reproducibility of bladder pressure measurements in critically ill patients. Intensive care medicine 2007;33:1195-8.
5. Cheatham ML, De Waele JJ, De Laet I, et al. The impact of body position on intra-abdominal pressure measurement: a multicenter analysis. Critical care medicine 2009;37:2187-90.
6. De Waele JJ, De Laet I, De Keulenaer B, et al. The effect of different reference transducer positions on intra-abdominal pressure measurement: a multicenter analysis. Intensive care medicine 2008;34:1299-303.