diagnosing ARDS

• related: ARDS, ICU
• tags: #icu

Diagnosis and definition for ARDS

• ARDS is diagnosed as acute onset (less than a week) of bilateral noncardiogenic pulmonary edema in setting of PEEP.
• Mild, moderate, severe ARDS are defined by PaO2 to FiO2 ratio
  • P/F 200<300 is mild
  • P/F 100<200 is moderate and sometimes called moderately severe
  • P/F <100 is severe
• You can have ARDS without apparent hypoxemia (high SpO2 and high FiO2). For example, SpO2 94% at FiO2 0.5 is moderate ARDS