Adult Respiratory Distress Syndrome
Alternate Names : Acute Respiratory Distress Syndrome, ARDS
How is the disease diagnosed?
After doing a complete medical history and physical exam,
the doctor may suspect ARDS. This is especially true when shortness of
breath develops in a person who has had severe trauma or infection. Tests
the doctor may order include:
arterial blood gases,
to measure the level of oxygen in the blood
chest X-ray
to visualize the structure and integrity of the lungs
a complete blood count, called CBC,
to check for infection
culture of any fluid that has been drained from the lungs, to check for infection
pulmonary artery catheterization, which is a special X-ray test that looks
at blood flow and blood pressure in the lungs
pulmonary function tests,
which measure lung capacity and other vital functions
various tissue and blood cultures
to check for the source of an infection
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