ABSTRACT
Compartment syndrome is defined as a “condition in which increased pressure in a confined anatomical space adversely affects the circulation and threatens the function and viability of the tissues therein” (1). Compartment syndromes have been traditionally described to occur within the closed fascial spaces of the extremities. However, in the past 20 years the term has been appropriately extended to include the abdomen. Although the term abdominal compartment syndrome (ACS) was first used by Kron et al. (2) in 1984, the pathophysiology of elevated intra-abdominal pressure (IAP) has been recognized for nearly a century. This review of ACS represents an organizational summation of the factors that have been recognized over that duration to cause critically elevated IAP causingmorbidity andmortality.
