PulmCCM
"People with acute respiratory distress syndrome (ARDS) are by definition severely hypoxemic, and nearly all require invasive mechanical ventilation. Yet mechanical ventilation itself can further injure damaged lungs (so-called ventilator-induced lung injury); minimizing any additional damage while maintaining adequate gas exchange ("compatible with life") is the central goal of mechanical ventilation in ARDS and acute lung injury, its less-severe form."
http://pulmccm.org/main/2012/review-articles/mechanical-ventilation-in-ards-2012-update/
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LITFL - Reviewed and revised 15 September 2014
"OVERVIEW
- definitions of acute lung injury (ALI) and acute respiratory distress syndrome (ARDS) have varied over time
- ARDS was first described by Ashbaugh and Petty in 1967 in a case series of 12 ICU patients who shared the common features of unusually persistent tachypnea and hypoxemia accompanied by opacification on chest radiographs and poor lung compliance, despite different underlying causes
- for more than 20 years, there was no common definition of ARDS
- inconsistent definitions led to the published prevalence in ICU ranging from 10 to 90% of patients
- The 1994 AECC definition became globally accepted, but had limitations
- The current definition is the ‘Berlin Definition’ published in 2013, which was created by a consensus panel of experts convened in 2011 (an initiative of the European Society of Intensive Care Medicine endorsed by the American Thoracic Society and the Society of Critical Care Medicine)"
http://lifeinthefastlane.com/ccc/acute-respiratory-distress-syndrome-ards-definitions/