Treatment
Three randomized clinical trials have reported that lungprotective ventilation with reduced tidal volume and airway
pressures decreased mortality in ALI/ARDS [34-36]. The
decrease in mortality is quite remarkable when viewed over
the course of the past 10 years, when lung-protective ventilation has become the standard of care in the treatment of
most patients with ALI/ARDS in modern intensive care
units. Mortality rates in the NHLBI ARDS Network
have fallen from 40% to approximately 21-22%