Acute Respiratory Distress Syndrome

Start by understanding who treats it: ARDS, or acute respiratory distress syndrome, is a serious condition that requires management by specialists in critical care and intensive care, along with the pulmonologist and the anesthesiologist. It is a rapidly appearing respiratory failure in which the lungs cannot oxygenate the blood adequately.

What it involves: the spaces where oxygen exchange occurs become inflamed and fill with fluid, which seriously hampers breathing.

Context in which it appears: it usually presents as a complication of other serious illnesses or injuries and constitutes a medical emergency.

Because of its severity, ARDS requires immediate hospital care; in the event of sudden and severe difficulty breathing, the priority is to go without delay to an emergency service.