The ARDS Support Center has received an article that was printed in the New England Journal of Medicine.  It is titled "Medical Progress:  The Acute Respiratory Distress Syndrome which was written by Dr. Matthay and his colleague Dr. Lorraine Ware. Dr. Matthay sent us the article.  He is the ARDS Investigator at Moffitt Hospital which is affiliated with the University of California, San Francisco.  This center is part of the ARDSNetwork.  After reviewing the article, we find it to be the most comprehensive and up-to-date article we have seen and encourage all those who have a loved one in ARDS crisis to obtain a copy and discuss the article with the attending physicians.

 

The article appears in the New England Journal of Medicine, Volume 342, Number 18, pp. 1334-1349 in the May 4, 2000 issue of the magazine.  Check with your hospital library to see if they have this issue of the magazine.  A copy of the article may be purchased from the New England Journal of Medicine. To do so log on to the Internet and enter www.nejm.org on the address line.  On the Home Page select  "Search Past Issues."  The "Search the Journal" page will be displayed.  On the Author line enter "Matthay."  The result will be a display of nine items.  You will find this article under the caption, "2000: Volume 342."  Click on the title of the article and on the following display click on "complete article".  This will give you the Customer Service and Ordering Information form.

 

Another article in this issue that is of utmost importance is titled "Ventilation with Lower Tidal Volumes as Compared with Traditional Tidal Volumes for Acute Lung Injury and the Acute Respiratory Distress Syndrome," which was provided by the ARDSNetwork.  You may view the abstract by clicking on:

http://www.nejm.org/content/2000/0342/0018/1301.asp

Your doctors should be aware of this extremely important research study.