The main objective of the core study is to measure a number of biochemical, cellular and inflammatory mediators in the BALF of C-ARDS patients and evaluate their correlation with the course of disease in terms of respiratory mechanics, complications and outcomes.
The mediators selected have been previously used in ARDS investigation to attempt prognostic and predictive enrichment.
Patients hospitalized in the ICU following C-ARDS and requiring invasive mechanical ventilation will be candidates for enrollment.
Patients enrolled in the study (Informed consent obtained from next of kin) will be subject to the realization of optic bronchoscopy within the first 72 h of mechanical ventilation to obtain BALF for analysis. A second and third bronchoscopy and sampling of BALF will be performed every 7-10 days if mechanical ventilation and the clinical conditions allow it. A sample of whole blood will be taken contemporary to each bronchoscopy in order to perform parallel measurements (lungs and peripheral blood). Patients will be followed up until hospital discharge.
BALF samples will be divided to perform different analysis in the immunology, cytology and microbiology labs.
