Acute lung injury (ALI) and acute respiratory distress syndrome (ARDS)

Abstract

Acute lung injury (ALI), acute respiratory distress syndrome (ARDS) is a non-hydrostatic pulmonary edema, which is pathologically associated with the findings of diffuse alveolar damage (DAD). On a pathophysiological analysis, neutrophil-mediated acute inflammation and damage of microvascular endothelial cells as well as alveolar epithelial cells are the predominant features. American-European Consensus Conference (AECC) definitions are widely used for the diagnosis, but the specificity is not high enough. There are a wide variety of risk factors or causal diseases / injuries, and their pathophysiological conditions are not uniform. Thus, most effective therapies for patients with ALI/ARDS could be different, depending on their predisposing conditions.