Title: Abdominal Compartment Syndrome in Burn Patients

Category: Critical Care

Posted: 10/27/2009 by Mike Winters, MBA, MD (Updated: 3/4/2026)

This week's pearl is courtesy of Dr. Evie Marcolini. Thanks Evie!

Abdominal Compartment Syndrome in Burn Patients

Patients who receive > 250 ml/kg of fluid in the the 24 hours after burn injury will most likely require abdominal decompression.
In light of this, bladder pressure monitoring should be part of your practice in resuscitation of the patient with >30% TBSA burns.
The simple act of placing the bladder probe will increase awareness of the possibility of ACS and prompt measurement of abdominal compartment pressures.
ACS can be treated with decompressive laparotomy, or in some cases, percutaneous abdominal decompression.

Latenser BA. Critical care of the burn patient: The first 48 hours. Crit Care Med 2009;37:2819-2826.