Masui. The Japanese journal of anesthesiology
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The definition of acute respiratory distress syndrome (ARDS) by American-European Consensus Conference (AECC) in 1994 has promoted clinical and epidemiological research leading to improved survival outcome of the ARDS patients by establishing lung protective ventilation. On the other hand, no pharmacological therapy has yet proved to be effective despite substantial effort devoted to development and research. ⋯ Recently, a randomized trial and clinical experience in treating severe influenza have demonstrated favorable outcome of ECMO therapy in the management of severe ARDS. Future progress will depend on developing novel therapeutics that can ameliorate lung injury and systemic derangements and facilitate lung repair.