🫁 ARDS and Mechanical Ventilation with PEEP

✅ Answer: (B) Mechanical ventilation with PEEP

📖 What is ARDS?

ARDS (Acute Respiratory Distress Syndrome) is a life-threatening condition in which the lungs become severely inflamed and the alveoli fill with fluid.

👉 This reduces oxygen exchange, leading to severe hypoxemia (low blood oxygen) that often does not improve with oxygen therapy alone.

📖 What is PEEP?

PEEP stands for Positive End-Expiratory Pressure.

It is a ventilator setting that keeps the alveoli open at the end of expiration, preventing alveolar collapse and improving oxygenation.

Benefits of PEEP include:

• ✔ Improves oxygen exchange
• ✔ Prevents alveolar collapse (atelectasis)
• ✔ Increases functional residual capacity (FRC)
• ✔ Reduces the work of breathing

🩺 Why is Option (B) Correct?

The patient has worsening hypoxemia despite receiving oxygen therapy, indicating severe ARDS.

👉 In this situation, mechanical ventilation with PEEP is often required to maintain adequate oxygenation and support breathing.

❌ Why Other Options Are Wrong?

(A) Oral Steroids
❌ Corticosteroids may be considered in selected ARDS cases, but they do not immediately correct severe hypoxemia and are not the priority intervention.

(C) Incentive Spirometry
❌ Incentive spirometry is useful for preventing postoperative atelectasis in cooperative patients, but it is ineffective in severe ARDS with refractory hypoxemia.

(D) Chest Percussion Only
❌ Chest percussion helps mobilize secretions but does not treat the impaired gas exchange caused by ARDS.

📝 Key Features of ARDS

📌 Exam Tip: In ARDS, if hypoxemia persists despite supplemental oxygen, the next step is usually mechanical ventilation with PEEP. Lung-protective ventilation using low tidal volumes (≈6 mL/kg predicted body weight) is the current standard of care.