Metabolic Stress & Trauma: Open Abdomen CASE STUDY 28

1. The patient has suffered a gunshot wound to the abdomen. This has resulted in an open abdomen. Define open abdomen. The medical record describes the use of a wound “VAC”. Describe this procedure and its connection to the diagnosis for open abdomen. Open abdomen is a surgical defect created intentionally in the abdominal wall that exposes the abdominal viscera (Mahan & Raymond, 2017, p. 784). Basically, so much swelling occurs that the abdomen must remain open and it helps to relieve the pressure. A wound vacuum system is multifactorial. An open porous foam dressing is placed directly onto the wound which enables negative pressure to pressure to be transferred across the entire sponge. Then an adhesive film covers and seals the dressing and wound. This adhesive film is required to seal the wound and allow negative pressure thus creating an effective vacuum with minimal leaks. A drainage tube that leads from under the adhesive bandage will connec