Toward a consensus on intraabdominal hypertension

All definitions of a clinical situation or syndrome fail to include all possible conditions and variations of an inherently complex phenomenon. Nevertheless, in order to approach scientific accuracy in comparing different clinical reports and to plan for future clinical trials, definitions are required that are comprehensive, detailed, simple, practical, and acceptable to the majority of the scientific community working in the particular field. This review does not, and cannot, provide bullet-proof definitions for all issues associated with increased IAP, but puts forward arguments and suggestions that may serve as a springboard for further consensus-building endeavors. These definitions also allow better comparisons of data between groups of researchers and may lead to refined and better definitions themselves.