Study monitors: Caroline Tournegros, Loic Ferrand, Nadira Kaddour, Boris Berthe, Samir Bekkhouche, Sylvain Anselme.
Pulmonary edema is characterized by the abnormal accumulation of fluid in the extravascular space of the lungs and is a common finding in critically ill patients [1]. This pathological condition may develop due to an increase in the pulmonary capillary permeability (acute lung injury (ALI), acute respiratory distress syndrome (ARDS)), an increase in the pulmonary capillary hydrostatic pressure (hydrostatic or cardiogenic pulmonary edema), or both [2]. Pulmonary edema can be detected by clinical evaluation of factors such as patients’ history, physical findings, and routine laboratory examinations, and is confirmed by the presence of bilateral pulmonary infiltration on chest radiography [2,3]. However, interpretation of these factors is often limited by a certain degree of subjectivity that might cause inter-observer variation even among experts, particularly in critically ill patients [4-6]. Moreover, intensive care physicians may find it difficult to determine the cause of the extravascular lung water (EVLW) increase [7].In 1994 the American Thoracic Society and the European Society of Intensive Care Medicine co-published the proceedings of a consensus conference on ARDS, and defined ALI and ARDS as an American-European Consensus Conference (AECC) definition [8,9].