Abstract
Patients with an open abdomen following trauma have multiple physiologic and metabolic complications, which make it difficult to estimate energy needs. Often, predictive equations are used to estimate energy needs if a metabolic cart is not available. These equations may underestimate the energy needs in this population of critically ill trauma patients. There are few, if any, published studies that have assessed the energy needs of patients with an open abdomen following trauma. This case report summarizes one such patient and reviews and compares the results of indirect calorimetry with the estimates calculated by predictive equations.