Acute respiratory distress syndrome (ARDS) is an inflammatory response that is accompanied by poor diffusion of oxygen across the alveolar-capillary membrane. Unfortunately, ARDS has a high mortality rate close to 43% when suffering from serve ARDS. ARDS cases in the United States range from 64.2 to 78.9 cases per 100,000 people. Early symptoms of ARDS are subtle and are common in many diseases processes. Such symptoms are tachycardia, tachypnea, and dyspnea. Late symptoms are right-sided heart failure, pulmonary hypertension, hypercarbia, and cyanosis. Common triggers of ARDS are sepsis, pulmonary insults such as pneumonia, pancreatitis, trauma, drug overdoses, and blood transfusions. ARDS has three phases, acute exudative phase, proliferation phase, and fibrotic phase. Once a patient enters that fibrotic stage treatment is an uphill battle. Early detection is key in mortality prevention. If placed on a mechanical ventilator ensure tidal volumes of 6 ml/kg, as well as watching for higher driving pressures in the prevention of more alveolar trauma. Prone postponing has shown great success in improving patient outcomes. Along with neuromuscular block-aid and a multimodal pharmaceutical approach. ARDS comes with many possible complications such as blood clots, pneumothorax, prolonged breathing problems, and even death. ARDS needs to be found early and treated aggressively to promote the best patient outcomes
