Main (ultimate) task:

• Promote, facilitate or conduct high quality experimental and clinical research relating to the abdominal compartment

Specific tasks:

• Provide an overview on current trials (including non-WSACS trials) relating to the abdominal compartment
• Define priority areas for further studies
• Provide expertise in designing studies
• Provide an overview of active researchers in the area of abdominal compartment, promote collaboration and invite non-WSACS to join where appropriate
• Provide WSACS members a network of collaborators to promote their studies
• Evaluate study proposals and provide endorsement with or without financial support to selected studies

Possible ways of WSACS support to endorsed studies

1. Endorsement – the study is conducted under the WSACS name and WSACS shares the responsibility for planning, conduction and publication of the study. If intellectual input by CTWG members during these processes is relevant (according to the ICJME guidelines for authorship), WSACS may ask one to two CTWG persons to be included as co-authors on the manuscript. WSACS will promote the study on WSACS web-pages, during congresses, etc. Such endorsement also applies to all following ways of support.
2. Endorsement with WSACS Grant – the sum will be defined yearly and agreed individually for each endorsed project. The sum for 2015 is 10,000 EUR and for 2016 another 10,000 EUR.
3. Endorsement with WSACS support on study coordination – for important large projects WSACS may provide a study coordinator 50% job paid by WSACS for strictly limited time period.
4. Endorsement with providing an electronic CRF

The Clinical Trials Working Group (CTWG) was founded by the World Society of the Abdominal Compartment Syndrome (www.www.wsacs.org) in 2004 to promote, support and stimulate research in the area of Intra-abdominal Hypertension (IAH) and Abdominal Compartment Syndrome (ACS). Dr Jan De Waele was our first CTWG Chairman, followed by Bart De Keulenaer. Under their mandate several multicentre studies were endorsed by the CTWG Committee (see table), most of them resulted in well-cited publications.

The mission of the WSACS has been to promote research, foster education, and improve the survival of patients with IAH/ACS. It should be considered as our success that within the last years the focus concerning ACS became less paramount, as ACS is becoming a more rare and less devastating syndrome. In order to reflect the evolving science and the need to widen our perspective, the World Society of the Abdominal Compartment Syndrome has officially changed its name to the WSACS – the Abdominal Compartment Society. Thereby a new, broader horizon is opening also for CTWG that now is dedicated to promote studies in all different aspects of the abdominal compartment.

CTWG today aims to shift our focus from small observational studies to multicentre interventional trials. CTWG is dedicated to support the investigators and achieve synergy with involvement of experts in study designing and co-operation with colleagues worldwide.

We encourage clinicians who have proposals for future research or want to participate in future trials of the WSACS to contact the new Chairman Dr Annika Reintam Blaser (annika.reintam.blaser@ut.ee).