So sparked by some recent twitter discussions where we were talking about ARDS in a somewhat controversial fashion, I thought it may be worth expanding a bit on the topic.
Essentially my stand is that ARDS is largely an iatrogenic disease mediated by (1) overeager fluid resuscitation of various disease states that fundamentally do not require large amounts of fluids despite commonly held beliefs (sepsis, pancreatitis, etc…) and (2) the absence of frequently used “stop points” of fluid resuscitation with instead a misguided focus on detecting (and intervening upon) volume responsiveness.
In our ICU, true “ARDS” (eg not generated by salt water drowning) is a rarity. Maybe one or two a year, usually a massive primary pulmonary insult.
Anyhow, here, Segun and I discuss this:
Ognjen Gajic refers to this article in our discussion.
So it seems clear that there is much to discuss. We didn’t even really get into the juice of the stop points. Stay tuned!
oh yes… so if these controversial, cutting- and bleeding-edge topics, don’t neglect joining us at H&R2019. Segun and many others will be there!
cheers!
thinking critical care 
Great discussion. Would be curious to see a poll of other intensivists to see if they they have seen similar rates of disappearance and the extent to which this is believed to be iatrogenic.
Thanks for commenting. The article linked to Dr. Gagic’s tweet corroborates this, but I would think it would vary greatly by individual practice, given that many still believe in aggressive volume resuscitation for sepsis!