[ARDS: circulatory factors and their evaluation]

Abstract

ARDS occurs in patients with no underlying pulmonary diseases, induced by stresses, such as lung injury, acute pancreatitis or infections. It is an acute respiratory disorder which manifests as acute dyspnea, hypoxemia and lowered pulmonary compliance. Greene et al, used balloon pulmonary angiogram (BOPA) as diagnostic tool to morphologically observe the pulmonary disorder. To study the dynamic pulmonary circulation and morphology of the peripheral pulmonary artery of ARDS, we performed this method for acute cardiac failure and ARDS patients. Pulmonary hemodynamic changes in ARDS revealed mild pulmonary hypertension and increased PVR, while C.I. and PCWP remained within a normal range. The findings of BOPA in ARDS showed that the frequency of PAFD correlated with the the presence of an elevated PVR and DIC, and pulmonary vasoconstriction was detected by measurement of PA diameter (B/A2).