[A clinical and pathologic analysis of 13 cases of adult respiratory distress syndrome].

The autopsy findings and clinical features of 13 cases of adult respiratory distress syndrome (ARDS) were analysed. The underlying causes consisted of malignant tumor of the hematopoietic tissue, severe infections, surgical wounds and water drowning. Although tachypnoea and dyspnoea are the chief symptoms of ARDS., we noticed, however, that at the beginning of the episode or when complicated by other factors (such as fracture of cervical vertebra with transverse paralysis), the pulmonary symptoms may be not very obvious. Histological examination showed hyperplasia and fibrosis of the alveolar epithelium in those cases with a course of more than 5 days. Such findings rendered classification of ARDS into acute and chronic types reasonable.