Acute respiratory distress syndrome (ARDS) is a common and severe form of acute lung
injury, resulting from both direct (eg, pneumonia) and indirect (eg, sepsis) pulmonary insults.
It is a common cause of admission to the intensive care unit due to hypoxemic respiratory
failure requiring mechanical ventilation, and is associated with significant morbidity and
mortality. In some patients, ARDS leads to the development of life-threatening refractory
hypoxemia. In these patients, physicians may consider a number of therapies (eg …