The goal of this paper is to review the use of CT scan in acute respiratory failure (ARF), acute lung injury (ALI) and acute respiratory distress syndrome (ARDS). The most important papers studying CT in ARF, published in English language literature, were found in Medline. The use of CT in patients with ARF let allowed the authors to proceed to a qualitative evaluation of lung morphology looking for diffuse an/or localized hyperdensities, and for other concomitant abnormalities (pleural effusion, pneumothorax). It is also possible to evaluate lung density histograms and calculate the gas-tissue ratio within the lungs. Likewise, one can also calculate total and regional lung volumes (aerated, poorly-aerated, non-aerated, and overdistension volumes). Knowing those volumes it is possible to quantify alveolar recruitment and overdistension due to ventilatory strategies as the use of different positive end expiratory pressure (PEEP) levels.
Acute lung injury; Acute respiratory distress syndrome; Computerized tomography; Alveolar recruitment; Overdistension