Drug and chemical toxicology
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Acute Lung Injury (ALI) and the Acute Respiratory Distress Syndrome (ARDS) are severe respiratory diseases that have a very poor prognosis and have numerous causes. Despite a great deal of research and investigation since the initial description of ARDS 30 years ago many questions about the pathogenesis, treatment and outcome of the disease remain unanswered. Although there is evidence to suggest that outcome of ALI and ARDS is improving, the reasons why are unknown and there is not yet a well developed treatment for these diseases. ⋯ ALI/ARDS has been the topic of a vast amount of research, numerous symposia, working groups and their published proceedings, book chapters, and books. Less information is available regarding experimental models of smoke induced lung damage, however the literature on the subject is extensive. Consequently this article is intended to provide the reader with a primer or cursory "overview" of ALI and ARDS from a toxicological perspective and should not be considered comprehensive.