New insights on relationship of acute respiratory distress syndrome and diffuse alveolar damage

Acute respiratory distress syndrome (ARDS) is a heterogeneous clinical syndrome with high morbidity and mortality.Diffuse alveolar damage (DAD) is the typical pathological feature of ARDS, but pulmonary autopsies and lung biopsies have found that only about half of patients meeting the Berlin definition of ARDS have DAD.Compared with non-DAD-ARDS patients, the mortality rate of DAD-ARDS patients is significantly higher, there may be different cellular and molecular mechanisms.This article aims to explore the relationship between ARDS and DAD and its clinical significance, in order to provide new ideas for the better diagnosis and treatment of ARDS. Key words: Respiratory distress syndrome, adult; Diffuse alveolar damage; Diagnosis