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Roger C. Bone, MD

JAMA. 1986;256(7):910.

	Since this article does not have an abstract, we have provided the first 150 words of the full text PDF and any section headings.

The adult respiratory distress syndrome was described as a clinical entity in 1967.1¹ The mortality in early reports was as high as 70%. This was disappointing since the entity was shown to be common (estimated as high as 150 000 per year in the United States), and potentially reversible.

During this time intensive care units were using the most sophisticated technology and the National Institutes of Health sponsored a randomized multicenter trial of extracorporal membrane oxygenation (ECMO) in the hope that this advanced technology might improve survival. The results were discouraging; survival was not improved.² This negative study was an important contribution to the literature since if the ECMO study had been positive, every center treating these patients would be using this costly and labor-intensive therapy. A negative study thus introduced the second phase, the study of basic mechanisms of lung injury in this condition and experimentation in . . . [Full Text PDF of this Article]

Author Affiliations
Rush-Presbyterian-St Luke's Medical Center Chicago

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