Temporal evolution of acute respiratory distress syndrome definitions

Objective: to review the evolution of acute respiratory distress syndrome (ards) definitions and present the current definition for the syndrome. data source: a literature review and selection of the most relevant articles on ards definitions was performed using the medline®/pubmed® resource guide database (last ten years),in addition to including the most important articles (classic articles) that described the disease evolution. data synthesis: the review included the following subjects: introduction; importance of definition; description of the first diagnostic criterion and subsequently used definitions,such as acute lung injury score; definition by the american-european consensus conference,and its limitations; description of the definition by delphi,and its problems; accuracy of the aforementioned definitions; description of most recent definition (the berlin definition),and its limitations; and practical importance of the new definition. conclusions ards is a serious disease that remains an ongoing diagnostic and therapeutic: challenge. the evolution of definitions used to describe the disease shows that studies are needed to validate the current definition,especially in pediatrics,where the data are very scarce. © 2013 sociedade brasileira de pediatria. published by elsevier editora ltda. all rights reserved.