Acute respiratory distress syndrome (ARDS) complicating influenza A/H1N1v infection--a clinical approach.

ARDS is defined as an acute inflammatory syndrome characterized with bilateral parenchymal lung infiltrates on chest radiograph and PaO2/FiO2 ratio<200 resulting from causes other than acute left ventricular dysfunction. Inflammatory lung lesions may be induced by different disorders, with sepsis being the leading cause of ARDS. Other causes include infectious pneumonia, aspiration of gastric contents, drugs, severe trauma, fat embolism, surface burn, massive blood transfusion. Influenza A/H1N1 infection seems to be responsible for the development of extremely severe type of ARDS with poor response to routine treatment. Despite great progress in the management of ARDS with novel agents and sophisticated techniques, including antimicrobial drugs, extracorporeal membrane oxygenation, prostaglandins, nitric oxide, prostacyclin, exogenous surfactant administration and activated protein C, supportive treatment based mostly on advanced mechanical ventilation in the intensive care units seems to be the most important for the prognosis.