title: Life saving abdominal decompression in a patient with severe acute pancreatitis.
abstract: Severe acute pancreatitis can be complicated early in its course by life threatening conditions such as abdominal compartment syndrome. We report a patient who needed abdominal decompression three days after admission to the intensive care unit because of intra-abdominal hypertension and end stage organ dysfunction. The clinical course was protracted, but the patient survived and was discharged from the hospital.
authors.affiliation: Intensive Care Unit, Ghent University Hospital, Gent, Belgium. jan.dewaele@UGent.be
authors.forename: J J
authors.initials: JJ
authors.lastname: De Waele
authors.forename: U J
authors.initials: UJ
authors.lastname: Hesse
mesh_terms: D000208:Acute Disease; D000328:Adult; D019299:Decompression, Surgical; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D010195:Pancreatitis / Q000150:complications* / Q000601:surgery*; D012720:Severity of Illness Index