When it comes to improving the patient survival rate in people struggling against acute respiratory distress syndrome (ARDS), corticosteroids are not
effective options.
The finding was a part of results from the ARDS Clinical Research Network of the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute (NHLBI), part of the National Institutes of Health.
From News-Medical.Net:
“These findings provide important information to help us determine the safest and most effective ways to care for patients with this devastating condition,” said NHLBI Director Elizabeth G. Nabel, MD. “Whether and how to use steroids to treat ARDS patients have been important questions for years. We now have better evidence of the effect of this treatment to help clinicians and patients make more informed decisions.”
There is no specific drug treatment for ARDS. The focus of care is to get enough oxygen into the blood until the lungs are functioning again. Patients are placed in the intensive care unit and supported with mechanical ventilators and fluids. Some patients recover and can breathe on their own within a week or so. Others might need to be on mechanical support to help with breathing for longer periods of time, but they can develop long-term complications from ventilator use or other treatments.
Physicians, patients, and the patients’ families need to grapple with the pros and cons of steroid treatment for ARDS, as per Gordon Bernard, MD, director of the Division of Allergy, Pulmonary and Critical Care Medicine at Vanderbilt University in Nashville, and chair of the Steering Committee for the NHLBI ARDS Clinical Research Network.
If you would like to make a comment, please fill out the form below.
