| Abstract: | Acute respiratory distress syndrome (ARDS) is a syndrome with acute, diffuse, inflammatory lung injury associated with non-haemodynamic lung oedema. It is responsible for almost a quarter of the ventilated patients in intensive care. The causes of ARDS are variable. They include primary pulmonary diseases such as pneumonia, drowning and aspiration and extra-pulmonary conditions including sepsis, trauma or burns. Although ARDS is well recognized in children, it is, in our experience, underdiagnosed in the paediatric intensive care units. This short article describes the diagnostic criteria, the causes and the management of ARDS in children. |
