Food: A Causal Nexus for Acute Respiratory Distress Syndrome

Abstract

Acute respiratory distress syndrome is an unfortunate occurrence and once diagnosed, outlook is bleak with survival rates of approximately 60%. As such, it is of great interest to determine the standard of care and possible novel treatments for the future. Novel treatments of interest include mesenchymal stem cells, ghrelin and high-frequency ventilation. In a phase 1 clinical trial, mesenchymal stem cells have shown great promise in efficacy while being welltolerated in patients. In addition, while ghrelin has only shown to be effective in animal models, it shows promise for further studies. At the same time, the effectiveness of corticosteroids, which has been the standard of care along with antibiotics, has been questioned with studies indicating success while others demonstrate a lack of efficacy.