Adult Respiratory Distress Syndrome

           Adult respiratory distress syndrome (ARDS), also called acute respiratory distress syn­drome, is a type of lung (pulmonary) failure that may result from any disease that causes large amounts of fluid to collect in the lungs. ARDS is not itself a specific disease, but a syndrome, a group of symptoms and signs that make up one of the most important forms of lung or respiratory failure. It can develop quite suddenly in persons  whose lungs have been perfectly normal.Very often ARDS is a true medical emergency.The basic fault is a breakdown of the barrier, or membrane, that normally keeps fluid from leaking out of the small blood vessels of the lung into the breathing sacs (the alveoli).