Acute respiratory distress syndrome (ARDS) was first described by Ashbaugh and his friends 35 years ago and it is a severe respiratory failure refractory to oxygen therapy and characterized by non-cardiogenic diffuse infiltrates involving both lungs. Clinical signs ofARDS includes tachypnea and dyspnea. As the incidence is 3-8/100,000, its mortality is up to 40-90%. In the pathogenesis of ARDS,non-cardiogenic pulmonary edema occurs, according to the alveolar capillary damage. Today, as there is no spesific therapy that haltsthe pathophysiology of ARDS, the management can not be more than symptomatic and supportive. Amouq the life-saving ventilator managements the most popular ones are the lung protective ventilation, permisive hypercapnia, high PEEP and the prone position. Altough the treatments such as the extracorporeal life support, high frequency ventilation, liquid ventilation and pharmacological therapy have not been put in standart practice, some researchers indicate that these treatments give hope for the outcome. As a result; the studies focused on the pathophysiology of the ARDS and especially the systemic inflammatory response syndrome, will cause decrease on the rate of the mortality and the morbidity.

Keywords : Acute Respiratory Distress Syndrome, acute lung injury