Figure 3.

Mechanisms of acute lung injury in PCAS. The mechanisms leading to acute lung injury in the post-cardiac arrest syndrome are divided into neuro-humoral, immune-mediated and iatrogenic etiologies. Neurogenic pulmonary edema (NPE) reflects an increase in pulmonary interstitial and alveolar fluid that stems from sympathetically mediated pathways. The lung is also subject to immune priming caused by the ischemia-induced release of both DAMPs and PAMPs from post-ischemic tissues combined with the inflammatory effects of aspiration pneumonitis. Equally important, iatrogenic factors encountered in the course of cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR), as well as those associated with ventilator-induced lung injury (VILI), are shown.