Acute Respiratory Distress Syndrome

Acute respiratory distress syndrome (ARDS) was first described in 1967 by Ashbaugh and colleagues and was initially associated with trauma, sepsis, or aspirations. In 1994, the American-European Consensus Conference on ARDS created the widely used definition of ARDS as follows: (1) acute onset of severe hypoxemia with a Pao₂ to Fio₂ ratio of 200mmHg or less, (2) bilateral infiltrates on chest x-ray, and (3) no evidence of left atrial hypertension or a pulmonary wedge pressure less than 18 mmHg. A lesssevere form of ARDS known as ALI (acute lung injury) was also defined at this conference and was distinguished from ARDS by a Pao₂ to Fio₂ ratio of less than 300mmHg.