Adult Respiratory Distress Syndrome (ARDS)

The following are brief extracts and information about the lung disease.  It was the disease that I suffered from in February 2002, during a time when I was warded in a hospital in Singapore for about 3 months.

What you should know?

Acute Respiratory Distress Syndrome (ARDS) is an acute, severe injury to most or all of both lungs. Patients with ARDS experience severe shortness of breath and often require mechanical ventilation (life support) because of respiratory failure. ARDS is not a specific disease; instead, it is a type of severe, acute lung dysfunction that is associated with a variety of diseases, such as pneumonia, shock, sepsis (a severe infection in the body) and trauma. ARDS can be confused with congestive heart failure, which is another common condition that can also cause acute respiratory distress.

ARDS is commonly precipitated by trauma, sepsis (systemic infection), diffuse pneumonia and shock. It may be associated with extensive surgery, and certain blood abnormalities. Less common causes include drowning and inhalation of toxic gases. In half the cases, onset occurs within 24 hours of the original illness or injury; in nearly all, it occurs within three days.

Treatment

ARDS has a fatality rate of approximately 40 percent despite supportive therapy, mechanical ventilators and supplement oxygen. New advances in mechanical ventilation are taking place. In a recent NHLBI study, preliminary results suggested that receiving small. rather than large breaths of air from a mechanical nevtilator reduced the number of deaths by 25 percent.

Treatment for ARDS consists of mechanical ventilation along with careful attention to fluid balance and a supportive breathing technique called positive end expiratory pressure (PEEP). These are combined with continuing treatment of the precipitating illness or injury.

There are many experimental therapies that show promise for the treatment of ARDS. These include replacement surfactant (a natural soapy substance that keeps the lung air sacs open) and the use of anti-inflammatory agents.

Facts and Figures

The incidence of ARDS has been difficult to determine, partly due to the variety of causes but it is a common problem in hospital intensive care units. Various published estimates have ranged from 1.5 to 71 cases per 100,000 population. Earlier estimates suggested that approximately 150,000 Americans are affected each year.

I hope the information is useful to you, so please take care of your lungs at all times.

Extracted from The ARDS Support Centre        http://www.ards.org/ 

and USA Lung Association                                 http://www.lungusa.org/diseases/ards_factsheet.html 

and USA Lung Association Brochure               http://www.ards.org/learnaboutards/whatisards/brochure/ 

updated 16 July 2002