Pediatric acute respiratory distress syndrome

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Surfactant Depletion Combined with Injurious Ventilation Results in a Reproducible Model of the Acute Respiratory Distress Syndrome (ARDS)
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Ira M Cheifetz1

  • 1Division of Pediatric Critical Care Medicine, the Pediatric Intensive Care Unit, Pediatric Respiratory Care, and the Extracorporeal Membrane Oxygenation Program, Duke Children's Hospital, Durham, North Carolina 27710, USA. ira.cheifetz@duke.edu

Respiratory Care
|October 20, 2011
PubMed

Insights

Clinical management of acute lung injury and acute respiratory distress syndrome in children is limited by scarce data. This review covers current pediatric data and physiology, with future multicenter studies anticipated to improve care.

Area of Science:

  • Pediatric critical care medicine
  • Respiratory physiology
  • Acute lung injury research

Background:

  • Limited clinical data exist for managing pediatric acute lung injury (ALI) and acute respiratory distress syndrome (ARDS) compared to adults.
  • Existing knowledge gaps hinder optimal treatment strategies for critically ill children.

Purpose of the Study:

  • To review current medical data and relevant physiology for managing pediatric ALI.
  • To identify areas needing further research in pediatric ALI/ARDS.

Main Methods:

  • Comprehensive literature review of pediatric ALI/ARDS management.
  • Analysis of pertinent physiological principles in pediatric respiratory failure.

Main Results:

  • Current understanding of pediatric ALI/ARDS management is based on limited evidence.
  • Physiological differences in pediatric respiratory systems impact ALI/ARDS presentation and treatment.

Conclusions:

  • There is a critical need for more robust, pediatric-specific data to guide clinical practice.
  • Multicenter collaborative efforts are essential to generate definitive evidence for pediatric ALI/ARDS management.

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