| 摘要 |
An abdominal decompression apparatus (Figs. 1A-2B) reduces intra-abdominal pressure in patients by application of negative pressure (22) to the patient 's abdomen. Preferably, the negative pressure is applied continuously at low negative pressures (e.g., -20 mm Hg to -40 mm Hg) for extended periods of ti me (e.g., 6 hours to 12 hours). Changes in the patient's intra-abdominal pressu re can be monitored using measurements of the patient's bladder pressure (26), and treatments can be designed to achieve decreases in bladder pressure. To alleviate pain, to permit maximum decrease in intra-abdominal pressure, a countertraction mechanism (54-70) is connected to the shell (50) which encloses the patient's abdomen, and counters the negative pressure induced downward movement of the shell on the patient's chest. The countertraction mechanism is sufficient to reduce or eliminate the negative pressure induced downward movement but is less than an amount which would cause loss of vacuu m pressure within said shell.
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