title: Noninvasive monitoring of intra-abdominal pressure by measuring abdominal wall tension.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Noninvasive monitoring of intra-abdominal pressure (IAP) by measuring abdominal wall tension (AWT) was effective and feasible in previous postmortem and animal studies. This study aimed to investigate the feasibility of the AWT method for noninvasively monitoring IAP in the intensive care unit (ICU).
  
  
  METHODS
  In this prospective study, we observed patients with detained urethral catheters in the ICU of Shanghai Tenth People's Hospital between April 2011 and March 2013. The correlation between AWT and urinary bladder pressure (UBP) was analyzed by linear regression analysis. The effects of respiratory and body position on AWT were evaluated using the paired samples t test, whereas the effects of gender and body mass index (BMI) on baseline AWT (IAP<12 mmHg) were assessed using one-way analysis of variance.
  
  
  RESULTS
  A total of 51 patients were studied. A significant linear correlation was observed between AWT and UBP (R=0.986, P<0.01); the regression equation was Y=-1.369+9.57X (P<0.01). There were significant differences among the different respiratory phases and body positions (P<0.01). However, gender and BMI had no significant effects on baseline AWT (P=0.457 and 0.313, respectively).
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  There was a significant linear correlation between AWT and UBP and respiratory phase, whereas body position had significant effects on AWT but gender and BMI did not. Therefore, AWT could serve as a simple, rapid, accurate, and important method to monitor IAP in critically ill patients.
authors.affiliation: Department of Emergency Medicine, Shanghai Tenth People's Hospital, Tongji University, Shanghai, China.
authors.forename: Yuan-Zhuo
authors.initials: YZ
authors.lastname: Chen
authors.affiliation: Coronary Care Unit, Shanghai Jiangong Hospital, Shanghai, China.
authors.forename: Shu-Ying
authors.initials: SY
authors.lastname: Yan
authors.affiliation: Department of Emergency Medicine, Shanghai Tenth People's Hospital, Tongji University, Shanghai, China.
authors.forename: Yan-Qing
authors.initials: YQ
authors.lastname: Chen
authors.affiliation: Department of Emergency Medicine, Shanghai Tenth People's Hospital, Tongji University, Shanghai, China.
authors.forename: Yu-Gang
authors.initials: YG
authors.lastname: Zhuang
authors.affiliation: Department of Emergency Medicine, Shanghai Tenth People's Hospital, Tongji University, Shanghai, China.
authors.forename: Zhao
authors.initials: Z
authors.lastname: Wei
authors.affiliation: Department of Emergency Medicine, Shanghai Tenth People's Hospital, Tongji University, Shanghai, China.
authors.forename: Shu-Qin
authors.initials: SQ
authors.lastname: Zhou
authors.affiliation: Department of Emergency Medicine, Shanghai Tenth People's Hospital, Tongji University, Shanghai, China.
authors.forename: Hu
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Peng
keywords: Abdominal compartment syndrome; Abdominal wall tension; Intra-abdominal pressure; Noninvasive monitoring