Effect of Hemorrhage on Superior Mesenteric Artery Flow during Increased Intra-abdominal Pressures

Abstract

SMAF and CO are reduced with increasing IAP to a greater degree when preceded by hemorrhage and resuscitation. Although there is a strong correlation between the reductions in CO and SMAF, the reduction in SMAF is greater than the reduction in CO. This finding suggests that optimizing cardiac function alone during periods of even moderate levels of increased IAP may be inadequate to normalize SMAF. This lends further support for early abdominal decompression in the treatment of trauma patients with increased IAP.