ABSTRACT
In 1967, Ashbaugh and coworkers introduced the phrase acute respiratory distress syndrome of adults, now adult respiratory distress syndrome (ARDS), to describe an illness that resulted in severe respiratory failure in a group of 12 patients with different underlying etiologies (including pneumonia and trauma) (1). Ashbaugh and other investigators described the chest films of several of these patients; the radiographs demonstrated bilateral heterogeneous opacities that rapidly coalesced to form more homogeneous consolidation throughout both lungs. During the last three decades, many articles regarding ARDS have been published. The radiological features of the disease remain an integral part of its definition.
