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Updated: Sep 28, 2026

Surfactant Depletion Combined with Injurious Ventilation Results in a Reproducible Model of the Acute Respiratory Distress Syndrome (ARDS)
Published on: April 7, 2021
Pulmonary microvascular fracture in a patient with acute respiratory distress syndrome
John R Hotchkiss1, Dana A Simonson, Daniel J Marek
1Department of Critical Care Medicine, Regions Hospital and University of Minnesota Medical School, St. Paul, MN, USA
Objective:
To present electron micrographs of lung tissue obtained from a patient exposed to high ventilatory pressures in the context of pulmonary dysfunction and pulmonary hypertension.
Design:
Case report.
Setting:
Adult intensive care unit of a university-affiliated teaching hospital.
Patients:
A patient exposed to high-pressure mechanical ventilation during support for acute respiratory distress syndrome; the acute respiratory distress syndrome in this case was secondary to septic shock.
Measurements And Main Results:
Scanning electron micrographs of lung tissue, focusing on the internal alveolar surfaces.
Findings:
Multiple gross disruptions of the alveolar walls, suggestive of stress fractures.
Conclusion:
High-pressure mechanical ventilation may promote fracturing of the alveolar blood:airspace barrier.
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