Hello! I have been a doctor for 21 years. My name is Georgy Olegovich Sapego. In this article, I will talk about acute respiratory distress syndrome.
This is a condition in which the lungs are saturated with fluid and cannot pass oxygen into the blood.
They began to talk about this nightmare in the 60s of the last century, when American military doctors during the Vietnam War found an incomprehensible defeat in both lungs of soldiers at once. Then it was called "shock lung". In civilian life, this same problem was called acute respiratory distress syndrome (ARDS).
In intensive care units, usually every tenth patient with just this same ARDS.
In our lungs, air comes into contact with blood through the walls of the alveoli - tiny bubbles against which the airways rest. There is very little space between the alveoli and the blood vessels. Oxygen from the air easily penetrates this obstacle.
The alveoli themselves are dry. And between the alveoli, you can find only very little liquid.
If the lungs are severely damaged, then fluid will accumulate in the alveoli themselves and between them. It turns out that between the oxygen of the air and the blood there will be a thick layer of liquid. It is difficult to overcome such an obstacle to oxygen, and there will be little of it in the blood. You don't have to be a doctor to understand that a lack of oxygen is not very good for your health.
Usually, the wall of the pulmonary alveoli consists of cells tightly fitted to each other. They are similar to the tiles in the pool and will not allow the liquid part of the blood to enter the alveoli.
In addition, there are proteins in the blood vessels that pull water strongly on themselves. Therefore, the liquid part of the blood remains inside the blood vessels.
To be on the safe side, there are still lymphatic ducts around the alveoli. Through them, excess fluid is easily drawn into the blood vessels.
It would seem - the most reliable system, but sometimes it fails.
Lung damage
If something has damaged the alveoli, it will be a natural disaster. Imagine that the tile has sprinkled and water begins to ooze from all the cracks.
Blood vessels collapse before our eyes. Proteins are thrown out of the vessels along with the liquid part of the blood. These proteins don't just lie between the alveoli. They continue to pull water over themselves. Pieces of alveolar walls, blood and semi-liquid jelly from various debris and proteins float around. All lymphatic drains are clogged with debris like storm sewers. The flood begins.
Oxygen cannot penetrate into blood vessels through such a swamp of water and debris.
Lungs lose compliance. If earlier they looked like a delicate sponge, now they turn into some kind of honeycomb filled with a thick mass.
What do you have to do to get such nasty
There are dozens of reasons for ARDS.
Sepsis
This is blood poisoning. The body cannot cope with the infection, the blood vessels become fragile and leaky. This is especially the case with alcoholics. It is suspected that their alveoli, in principle, are easily damaged and fall apart. We have already discussed the topic pneumonia in alcoholics.
Aspiration
This is when people choke on something, and it gets into the lungs. Usually stomach contents go there. Gastric acid destroys the delicate walls of the alveoli, and ARDS begins.
Pneumonia
it pneumonia. Some kind of infection settles in the alveoli, and they literally fester. There will be inflammation and the same fluid. Under unfavorable conditions, our body loses control over this process, and ARDS is triggered.
Injury
Remember the tile that lined the walls of the alveoli? Imagine what would happen if a car crashed into a tiled wall. And sometimes cars literally hit people in the back.
In short, there are many reasons. Sometimes trouble sneaks up on the lungs from the side of the blood vessels. But the result is the same - the lungs are saturated with liquid, and the person suffocates.
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