https://journal.chestnet.org/article/S0012-3692(16)38415-X/pdf

Definitions for Sepsis and Organ Failure and Guidelines for the Use of Innovative Therapies in Sepsis

The acute respiratory distress syndrome is a common, devastating clinical syndrome of acute lung injury that affects both medical and surgical patients. Since the last review of this syndrome appeared in the Journal, 1 more uniform definitions have been devised and important advances have occurred in the understanding of the epidemiology, natural history, and pathogenesis of the disease, leading to the design and testing of new treatment strategies. This article provides an overview of the definitions, clinical features, and epidemiology of the acute respiratory distress syndrome and discusses advances in the areas of pathogenesis, resolution, and treatment. Historical Perspective and Definitions . . .

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The acute respiratory distress syndrome

More than twenty years ago, Ashbaugh and coworkers, (1), in a now classic article, described. 12 patients whose striking but uniform clinical, physiologic, roentgenographic,and pathologic abnormalities distinguished them from among 272adult patients who had received respiratory support in the intensive care units of Colorado General Hospital and Denver General Hospital. The 12patients all had severedyspnea, tachypnea, cyanosis that was refractory to oxygen therapy, decreased respiratory system compliance, and diffuse alveolar infiltrations on their chest radiographs. Pathologic examination in seven patients who died revealed atelectasis, vascular congestion and hemorrhage, severe pulmonary edema and hyaline membranes. Shortly afterward, Petty and coworkers (2), called this constellation of findings the adult respiratory distress syndrome (ARDS). Since then, ARDS has been recognized as an entity throughout the world and has been the subject of numerous conferences, hundreds of articles, and several books. As a result of this activity, much descriptive information has been obtained about ARDS, and we have learned a lot about its clinical features, physiologic disturbances, prognosis, and pathologic findings. And yet formidable problems remain: there is disagreement about exactly what ARDS is and on what causes it; more importantly, available empiric treatment is inadequate, and mortality remains unacceptably high (600/0 or more) (3). This appears to be one of the few points of agreement among investigators, but even that statement is arguable (4). We believe that much of the controversy concerning ARDS is explained by the lack of a satisfactory definition of this elusivesyndrome. How can you collect, much less compare, epidemiologicdata and mortality figures when there is no uniformly accepted (and used) definition? How can you study basic pathophysiologic mechanisms, understand natural history, and above all, evaluate new therapeutic approaches in what appears now to be an amalgam of many different disorders? The purpose of this article, therefore, is to propose an expanded definition of ARDS that takes into account new knowledge about

An Expanded Definition of the Adult Respiratory Distress Syndrome

Acute lung injury in humans is characterized histopathologically by neutrophilic alveolitis, injury of the alveolar epithelium and endothelium, hyaline membrane formation, and microvascular thrombi. Different animal models of experimental lung injury have been used to investigate mechanisms of lung injury. Most are based on reproducing in animals known risk factors for ARDS, such as sepsis, lipid embolism secondary to bone fracture, acid aspiration, ischemia-reperfusion of pulmonary or distal vascular beds, and other clinical risks. However, none of these models fully reproduces the features of human lung injury. The goal of this review is to summarize the strengths and weaknesses of existing models of lung injury. We review the specific features of human ARDS that should be modeled in experimental lung injury and then discuss specific characteristics of animal species that may affect the pulmonary host response to noxious stimuli. We emphasize those models of lung injury that are based on reproducing risk factors for human ARDS in animals and discuss the advantages and disadvantages of each model and the extent to which each model reproduces human ARDS. The present review will help guide investigators in the design and interpretation of animal studies of acute lung injury.

Animal models of acute lung injury.

To further understanding of the epidemiology of acute respiratory distress syndrome (ARDS), we prospectively identified 695 patients admitted to our intensive care units from 1983 through 1985 meeting criteria for seven clinical risks, and followed them for development of ARDS and eventual outcome. ARDS occurred in 179 of the 695 patients (26%). The highest incidence of ARDS occurred in patients with sepsis syndrome (75 of 176; 43%) and those with multiple emergency transfusions (> or = 15 units in 24 h) (46 of 115; 40%). Of patients with multiple trauma, 69 of 271 (25%) developed ARDS. If any two clinical risks for trauma were present, the incidence of ARDS was 23 of 57, or 40%. During the study period, we identified 48 patients with ARDS who did not have one of the defined clinical risks, yielding a sensitivity of 79% (179 of 227). Secondary factors associated with increased risk for ARDS in clinical risk subgroups include an elevated Acute Physiologic and Chronic Health Evaluation II (APACHE II) score in patients with sepsis and increased APACHE II and Injury Severity Scores (ISS) in trauma victims. Mortality was threefold higher when ARDS was present (62%) than among patients with clinical risks who did not develop ARDS (19%; p < 0.05). The difference in mortality if ARDS developed was particularly striking in patients with trauma (56% versus 13%), but less in those with sepsis (69% versus 49%). The mortality data should be interpreted with caution, since the fatality rate in ARDS patients appears to have decreased in our institution from the time that these data were collected.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)

Clinical risks for development of the acute respiratory distress syndrome

One hundred thirty-six patients meeting our criteria for one or more of eight clinical conditions were prospectively observed for the development of the adult respiratory distress syndrome. A high risk population was identified, including those with sepsis syndrome (38 percent), documented aspiration of gastric contents (30 percent), multiple emergency transfusions (24 percent), and pulmonary contusion (17 percent). The risk from multiple major fractures appeared low but contributed to the risk from other factors. The risk associated with just one factor (25 percent) was compounded by the presence of two (42 percent) and three (85 percent) simultaneous factors, and this finding was more predictive of ARDS than the injury severity score or initial arterial oxygenation. Of the ARDS cases, 76 percent occurred in the initial 24 hours after meeting the criteria. ARDS did not occur after 72 hours unless there was late development of sepsis (3 of 136 patients).

Diane Holtman Reus

Papers

Clinical predictors of the adult respiratory distress syndrome.