ARDS

Acute Respiratory distress syndrome or ARDS is a progressive, life threatening disease that occurs when the lungs face damage to an extent that it cannot function normally leading to abrupt problems in breathing and quick lung failure.

Those that are diagnosed with ARDS have patchy specks on their chest X-Rays. ARDS also known as non-cardiac pulmonary edema, acute lung injury and increased permeability pulmonary edema is also known to affect children as young as one year and onwards.

ARDS Causes:

ARDS could arise due a serious damage or intense inflammation that causes significant extent of damage to the blood vessels present in either one or both of the lungs resulting in the lungs being incapacitated. Due to this, the lungs are incapable of being filled with air and cannot move adequate oxygen supply into the blood stream. This form of damage to the lungs could be either direct or indirect.

Circumstances which could cause direct harm to the lungs and probably lead to ARDS comprise of:

• Inhalation of smoke or noxious chemicals.
• Aspirating stomach contents during vomiting.
• During episodes of nearly being drowned.
• Pneumonia.
• Presence of lung infection SARS or Severe acute respiratory syndrome.

Circumstances that could have an indirect bearing on the lungs and cause ARDS comprise of:

• Sepsis or blood being infected by bacteria.
• An Overdose of drugs.
• Those that undergone several blood transfusions.
• Heart-lung bypass surgery.
• The pancreas being infected or irritated due the condition known as pancreatitis.
• Extreme blood loss due to major injury situations like being involved in a vehicle accident.
• Major strike to the chest or the head region.

Although sepsis, grave injury and lung infections like pneumonia are the most prevalent conditions being associated with ARDS, yet it is crucial to know that not all who experience these conditions would develop ARDS. It is still quite unclear to doctors as to the reason why certain individuals get ARDS while certain others don’t.

ARDS Symptoms:

The symptoms could crop up rapidly normally in a time span of mere hours or days of the episode that originally caused damage to the lung. The three key indicators pointing to the presence of ARDS include:

• Hastened breathing pattern.
• Experiencing a sense of not getting adequate air in the lungs.
• Depleted levels of oxygen in the blood that could escalate to failure of the organ and signs like racy heart rate, irregular heart rhythms, feeling confused and chronic weariness.
• Symptoms noticed are dependent on the episode that lead to ARDS like for instance if pneumonia is the reason behind ARDS, symptoms would additionally include pain in the chest and fever.
• ARDS is considered a medical crisis; hence prompt medical assistance is vital as the extreme oxygen loss could progressively cause death if not tended to on an urgent basis.

Diagnosis & Tests:

There are no definite diagnostic procedures for ARDS, though the doctor would carry out a physical examination and by employing a stethoscope check the heart and lungs to detect any kind of unnatural sounds while breathing like wheezy or crackling sounds.

Those individuals with sapped oxygen levels in the blood display signs of blue tinge on the skin and lips.  In such cases an arterial blood gas testing is carried out to keep a tab on the oxygen levels present in the blood. Plummeting oxygen levels could be an indicator of ARDS.

There are other diagnostic procedures undertaken to detect ARDS that comprise of:

• A chest X-ray to look out for fluid accumulation in the air spaces within the lungs.
• A CBC check or Complete blood count along with other blood tests to check for any symptoms pointing to an infection.
• A sputum culture is taken to look for bacterial and fungal presence in the mucus sample that one coughs up from the lungs.
• A CT scan of the lungs to check for fluid accumulation in the lungs, any symptoms of pneumonia or the presence of lung problems.
• Heart tests are additionally carried out to detect any heart failure as the reason, as heart failure is known to cause fluid accumulation in the lungs.

ARDS Treatment:

Those that develop ARDS are quite sick and need hospitalisation and are admitted in the intensive care unit of the hospital.

• There is no precise treatment in the case of ARDS, with the aim being to sustain and provide support to breathing and allowing the healing process of the lungs. This is done by using a breathing machine also known as mechanical ventilator and supplementary oxygen.
• A latest research has revealed that by giving smaller puffs of air by a mechanical ventilator decreased the fatality rate and facilitated speedy recovery.
• It is also quite imperative to treat the underlying reason of ARDS, like for instance prescribing antibiotics if the reason is a bacterial infection.
• The intravenous administration of fluids and essential nutrients to the patient is also done alongside careful monitoring of fluid balance to ascertain no fluid accumulation in the lungs.
• Pulmonary rehabilitation is a crucial aspect of recuperation. The therapy is intended to exercise the lungs and regain activeness.

Possible Complications:

ARDS is a grave medical condition that can be treated effectively, yet several survivors land up with grave and at times long term complications that include:

• Pulmonary fibrosis.
• Lung collapse or pneumothorax.
• Bacterial infections.
• Uncharacteristic lung function.
• Muscle wastage and weakness.
• Memory loss, lowered cognitive functioning and emotional problems.

Prevention:

The sole way to prevent ARDS is to avoid those diseases and potentially detrimental conditions that might lead to damage of the lung.

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