ARDS is an acute inflammatory lung injury that results in increased vascular permeability. Clinically, this leads to life-threatening acute hypoxemic respiratory failure with bilateral alveolar opacities on chest imaging that are not fully explained by cardiogenic pulmonary edema, pleural effusions, or lung collapse. ARDS is associated with many conditions, including sepsis, aspiration, pneumonia, severe trauma, and overdose. ARDS affects approximately 200 000 individuals and results in 74 500 deaths per year in the United States.1