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Acute respiratory distress syndrome

Syndroma dyspnoeae acutae adultorum · Syndrom akutní dechové tísně (ARDS)

What it is

Diffuse inflammatory lung injury; stiff, wet lungs that resist ventilation.

Symptoms & signs

  • Severe breathlessness within a week of an insult
  • low oxygen despite high support
  • diffuse infiltrates

🚩 Get help if…

  • call 112 / 911 now Fast, hard breathing within days of a severe illness or injury
  • call 112 / 911 now Blue lips, or oxygen level below 92%
  • call 112 / 911 now Confusion or extreme drowsiness
  • see a doctor soon After leaving hospital: breathlessness that gets worse

Where it strikes

Medical treatment

  • Low-tidal-volume ventilation trials support
  • Prone positioning in severe cases trials support
  • Neuromuscular blockade — no survival benefit in the largest trial mixed evidence
  • ECMO in the most severe mixed evidence
  • treat the trigger

Natural & lifestyle

  • None acutely; rehabilitation and psychological support afterwards

Emerging & experimental

  • Mesenchymal stem cells
  • inhaled surfactant replacement
  • ECMO with awake protocols

Alternative, off-label & anecdotal

Approaches used outside the guidelines, with what their supporters report and what testing has found so far.

  • Intravenous vitamin C (CITRIS-ALI) — no organ benefit, fewer deaths as a secondary finding mixed evidence
  • Statins — two large trials found no benefit not confirmed in trials
  • Nebulised heparin — small trials, easier ventilation early / small studies

ICD codes