Acute Respiratory Distress Syndrome- NEET PG Medicine
Apr 05, 2023
Get ready to elevate your Medicine preparation because today you are going to learn about Acute Respiratory Distress Syndrome, which is an important topic in your Medicine syllabus.
What is Acute Respiratory Distress Syndrome? It is a condition where fluid gets collected in the air sacs of the lungs and deprives the body of oxygen. In such cases, patients suffer from shortness of breath and are unable to breathe on their own.
Let’s learn more about this syndrome in detail.
Cardiogenic pulmonary edema: Increase in left atrial pressure secondary to LVF
Edematous fluid is transudate
acute respiratory distress syndrome is due to non-cardiogenic pulmonary edema
Non-Cardiogenic Pulmonary Edema
Example, A patient has swine flu or bird flu. As the swine flu virus damages pneumocytes without damaging heart, this will end up in ARDS.
Collapse of alveoli leads to hypoxia and which in turn leads to damage of Endothelium (damage to gap junctions)
Leakage of fluids from the pulmonary capillary into alveoli
ARDS occurs in 10% of ICU patients.
Sudden onset Respiratory distress
Presence of CXR Bilateral infiltrates on chest X-ray. (no cardiac cause found)
Reduced pO2 (demonstrable hypoxia)
Normal left atrial pressure (LAP)
Triggers for ARDS
Direct (Most common)
Indirect
Pneumonia (H1N1)
Mendelson syndrome
Toxic gas inhalation
Pulmonary contusion
Near drowning
Sepsis
Trauma
Multiple bone fracture
Flail chest
Head injury
Burns
Multiple blood transfusion /TRALI
Acute pancreatitis
Post cardiopulmonary bypass
Mendelson syndrome: Aspiration of stomach acid (Chemical Pneumonitis)
Important information
Both pneumonia > sepsis are the leading causes of ARDS
Leading cause of death after blood transfusion: TRALI
Status asthmaticus (disease of the airway) is not ARDS( disease of alveoli)
Steroids, surfactant therapy and high-frequency jet ventilation (HFJV) have no role in the treatment.
Most common cause of death in ARDS: Sepsis (non-pulmonary causes)
Congestive heart failure
ARDS
Transudative pulmonary edema
Exudative pulmonary edema
Hydrostatic pressure increased
Hydrostatic pressure normal
LA pressure increased
LA pressure normal
Low protein pulmonary edema
High protein pulmonary edema
BNP increased
BNP normal
And that is everything you need to know about Acute Respiratory Distress Syndrome to boost your Medicine preparation. For more interesting and informative posts like this keep following our blog!
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