Evolución de la definición del síndrome de insuficiencia respiratoria aguda

Acute respiratory distress syndrome (ARDS) is an acute diffuse, inflammatory lung injury, leading to increased pulmonary vascular permeability, increased lung weight, loss of aerated lung tissue, hypoxemia, bilateral radiographic infiltrates, increased physiological dead space and intrapulmonary shunt and decrease lung compliance. ARDS was first described by Ashbaugh and Petty in 1967. For more than 20 years, there was no common definition of ARDS, and inconsistent definitions led to confusion and misdiagnosis. The 1994 The American European Consensus Conference (AECC) definition become accepted but had important limitations, since then, issues regarding the reliability and validity of this definition have emerged. The current definition is the Berlin one. This definition seems to be more accurate than the AECC definition and may facilitate prompt recognition of ARDS and promote protective ventilation strategy. The aim of this paper is to make a brief review of the evolution of the definition of ARDS at 50 years of its description.