Mechanisms and clinical consequences of acute lung injury

Ann Am Thorac Soc. 2015 Mar:12 Suppl 1:S3-8. doi: 10.1513/AnnalsATS.201407-340MG.

Abstract

Acute respiratory distress syndrome (ARDS) was first described in 1967, and since then there have been a large number of studies addressing its pathogenesis and therapies. Despite intense research efforts, very few therapies for ARDS have been shown to be effective other than the use of lung protection strategies. The scarcity of therapeutic choices is related to the intricate pathogenesis of the syndrome and to insensitive and aspecific criteria to diagnose this profound acute respiratory failure. The aim of this paper is to summarize advances of new ARDS definitions and provide an overview of new relevant signaling pathways that mediate acute lung injury.

Keywords: acute respiratory distress syndrome; alveolar edema; lung injury; vascular permeability.

Publication types

  • Review

MeSH terms

  • Acute Lung Injury / diagnosis
  • Acute Lung Injury / pathology*
  • Acute Lung Injury / therapy
  • Animals
  • Capillary Permeability
  • Disease Models, Animal
  • Epithelial Cells / physiology
  • Humans
  • Lung / physiopathology*
  • Mice
  • Pulmonary Edema / physiopathology
  • Respiratory Distress Syndrome / diagnosis
  • Respiratory Distress Syndrome / pathology*
  • Respiratory Distress Syndrome / therapy
  • Signal Transduction*