Chirag V. Shah, M.D., M.S., and Jason D. Christie, M.D., M.S.
Dr. Shah is Instructor in Medicine and Dr. Christie is Assistant Professor of Medicine, University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine, Philadelphia, PA.
Within the past 12 months, Drs. Shah reports no commercial conflicts of interest; Dr. Christie has been a consultant to Discovery Labs and GlaxoSmithKline.
Upon completion of this Cyberounds®, you should be able to:
Describe the diagnostic criteria for acute lung injury and acute respiratory distress syndrome.
Assess the underlying precipitating causes of ALI and the differential diagnosis of ALI in a critically ill patient.
Discuss the pathophysiology of the acute phase of ALI responsible for the refractory hypoxemia.
Apply the ventilatory strategy that should be used in patients with ALI.