Table 1.
Clinical and basic BALF data and cell counts§
| ARDS | Control | |||
| T0 (<24 h) | T1 (3–5 d) | T2 (7–9 d) | ||
| Time point of BAL | 12.1 ± 1.3 hours | 3.9 ± 0.6 days | 8.1 ± 1.0 days | |
| Number of subjects | 15 | 15 | 15 | 15 |
| Age [years] | 52.1 ± 3.7 *** | 30.8 ± 3.2 | ||
| Sex f/m | 7/8 | 9/6 | ||
| Current smoker [n] | 1 | |||
| Ex smoker [n] | 5 | |||
| Never smoker [n] | 9 | |||
| Ethnic origin: | ||||
| Caucasian | 15 | |||
| PaO2/FiO2 [mm Hg] | 127.8 ± 10.5 *** | 129.1 ± 9.9 | 200.7 ± 24.1 § | 511.1 ± 23.2 |
| PEEP [cm H2O] | 8.4 ± 0.8 | 8.4 ± 0.7 | 7.4 ± 0.7 | |
| Tidal Volume [ml/kg bw] | 9.4 ± 0.8 | 9.0 ± 0.6 | 8.9 ± 0.6 | |
| PIP [cm H2O] | 24.9 ± 1.3 | 25.8 ± 1.5 | 26.3 ± 1.9 | |
| APACHE II score | 19.2 ± 2.2 | 21.5 ± 2.0 | 19.3 ± 1.8 | |
| Patients alive day 28 [n]/% | 9/60% | |||
| Time of ventilation [d] | 40.9 ± 10.8 | |||
| Ventilator-free days at day 28 [d] | 1.6 ± 1.4 | |||
| Recovery BALF [%] | 61.1 ± 3.6 *** | 55.9 ± 4.6 | 65.1 ± 4.6 | 82.0 ± 2.0 |
| Neutrophils [%] | 60.8 ± 6.5 *** | 47.5 ± 8.8 § | 23.0 ± 7.3 §§§ | 0.8 ± 0.2 |
| Lymphocytes [%] | 7.2 ± 5.1 | 7.7 ± 4.3 | 7.6 ± 3.1 | 4.4 ± 0.8 |
| Macrophages [%] | 32.0 ± 5.2 *** | 44.8 ± 8.1 § | 69.4 ± 7.1 §§§ | 94.8 ± 0.8 |
| Total protein [μg/ml] | 1139 ± 240 *** | 886 ± 167 | 384 ± 85 §§§ | 76 ± 8 |
§ All data are given as mean ± standard error. PaO2/FiO2 = mean oxygen tension in arterial blood/inspiratory oxygen fraction. PEEP = positive end-expiratory pressure. PIP = peak inspiratory pressure. APACHE II = scores on the acute physiology and chronic health evaluation. Cell counts and total proteins were measured in BALF. Tidal volume is expressed per ideal body weight. Control = healthy volunteers; ARDS = Acute respiratory distress syndrome. *** = p < 0.001: T0 compared to healthy controls (Mann-Whitney-U test) and § = p < 0.05; §§§ = p < 0.001: T1, T2 compared to T0 (Wilcoxon test).