[Acute respiratory distress syndrome: definitions, mechanisms and treatment].

Acute respiratory distress syndrome is a secondary acute respiratory insufficiency caused by an inflammatory syndrome which is characterized by an increased of permeability pulmonary edema, associated with many other clinic anomalies, radiological and pathophysiological not directly caused by, but with which it could coexist, a left atrial hypertension. The illness, characterized by refractory hypoxemia, recognizes several causes, which have direct or indirect harm on the cells of the membrane alveolus-capillary. In spite of the improvements in the therapeutic approach, during these last 40 years, represented by the aid of the mechanical ventilation and the use of selective pulmonary vasodilators, this condition is life threatening and often lethal: 90% of mortality rate amongst those older than 65 years.