• Judita Andrejaitiene.
• Institute for Biomedical Research, Kaunas University of Medicine, Eiveniu 4, 3007 Kaunas, Lithuania.
• Medicina (Kaunas). 2003 Jan 1;39(11):1044-56.

AbstractAcute respiratory distress syndrome (ARDS) - is a life-threatening acute clinical syndrome of pulmonary insufficiency with high mortality. The causes of the syndrome are of every description - from crustacean poisoning to cardiopulmonary bypass. The rate of ARDS is not clear, because of diagnostical variety of ARDS and acute pulmonary dysfunction. The discussion on ARDS diagnostical criteria lasted for many years. The clinical criteria depend on how the essence of the disease is understood, on the size of lung infiltration, lung compliance and failure as well as degree of hypoxemia. The risk of ARDS increases with the increase of number of predisposing factors. The investigation data depend mainly on used datum-point for diagnostics of ARDS. It is obvious that non-cardiogenic light pulmonary edema is found very often, and serious lung lesions are rare enough. The aim of nowadays treatment is to cure the disease that causes the syndrome and to sustain vital functions. The early diagnostics of ARDS predisposing factors and minimization of their influence, the prevention, early diagnostics and timely treatment of complications are essential. In many cases ARDS caused by collateral factors is the constituent of multiple organ dysfunction syndrome. Anyway the ARDS predisposed by direct factors is often complicated by other organ (cardiovascular, renal, hepatic, hematogenous, central nervous system, gastrointestinal tract, etc.) dysfunction. In this case the treatment becomes more difficult and includes therapy correcting the function of other systems. In spite of intensive treatment, mortality of this syndrome still remains 50-90% according to the literature data. Though some authors state that recently the ARDS mortality decreased, but most of the authors did not notice any improvement during the last 20 years. The prognosis is determinated not only by pulmonary insufficiency itself (the cause of death in 5% of patients), but by the ARDS predisposing factor (the worst is sepsis and septic shock), multiple organ dysfunction syndrome, difficult physical state of the patient, sepsis as a cause or as a complication of ARDS, nosocomial pneumonia, progressive fibroproliferation in the lung. Considering the actuality of ARDS, the diagnostical criteria of ARDS, pathogenesis, clinical course and new treatment methods are reviewed in the publication.

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