Medicine and Health Sciences Commons^™

Acute Lung Injury/Acute Respiratory Distress Syndrome, Fazal Hameed Khan

Department of Anaesthesia

Reports of pulmonary physiopathological insults following severe trauma resulting in respiratory failure are not new in medical literature^1,2. In 1967 Ashbaugh and colleagues described a syndrome of acute respiratory distress following a variety of precipitating conditions³. Severe hypoxemia, diffuse pulmonary infiltrates, poor lung compliance and absence of left heart failure characterize this condition. Ashbaugh et al⁴ subsequently named it as adult respiratory distress syndrome to differentiate it from infant respiratory distress syndrome. It was proposed at that time that both conditions manifest similar physiopathological changes. It was also referred to as “traumatic wet lung”, “congestive …