Lay summary
Acute critical illness is often associated with the development of oedema (tissue swelling). The basis for this relates to an imbalance between blood-derived fluid delivery to the tissues and its subsequent clearance by capillaries and lymphatics. This normal process becomes deranged in critical illness states. Accumulated tissue oedema has detrimental effects on organ function and may contribute to multiple organ failure. We propose a radical new approach that will improve tissue fluid drainage, reduce organ oedema and is predicted to improve patient’s outcome with these diseases. To achieve this goal we propose to use advanced computer modelling to further refine our intervention concept and then undertake extensive bench-testing of this new approach prior to clinical evaluation.