diagnosing ARDS
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