Fig. 1.

Problems in modelling ARDS. Typical animal models of ARDS induce lung injury by the rapid administration of a noxious agent into genetically similar animals with a follow-up of 2–24 h. ARDS in patients is usually part of multiple organ failure that develops in a heterogeneous population frequently over the span of days and the patients are undergoing intensive care therapy. At present, it is unclear which parts of this complex disease process need to be included and which can be omitted in order to make ARDS models clinically more relevant.