[Acute respiratory distress syndrome: incidence and course in a Spanish ICU]

We have analyzed the 57 ARDS admitted at the Intensive Care Unit (ICU) of the Hospital General Vall d'Hebron of Barcelona in 1996 (the 5.7% of the ICU and the 0.18% of the hospital admission). We have studied the epidemiological characteristics, as well as their ICU complications and mortality. This year was the first to have nitric oxide (NO) as complementary treatment in the ARDS patients at our hospital. They were 42 males and 15 females, with a mean age of 60 years, APACHE II 21 and a lung injury score 3.1. The 87% of the patients need vasoactive drugs. The 47% need Swan-Ganz catheter to optimize the haemodynamic management. The 77% presented a multiple organ disfunction syndrome (MODS) and the 56% acute renal failure. The total mortality was 70%, basically due to MODS (68%), while due to hypoxemia only in the 22%. The group treated with NO (the 35% of the ARDS patients) were younger, without any other differences the patients who did not received this treatment and with the same stage and mortality. Patients who presented MODS, renal failure or hemodynamic unstableness presented a higher mortality (p < 0.05).