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A pediatric acute lung injury causes lung inflammation (swelling), which prevents oxygen from circulating in the body.
Acute (sudden and severe) lung injuries can result from distress to the chest or lungs or an infection. The injury will decrease the amount of oxygen reaching the body’s vital organs. As a result, the patient will suffer respiratory distress and will most likely need a ventilator to help them breathe.
The following are tests that are used to diagnose acute lung injury. Your child’s doctor may use a combination of these tests:
Acute (sudden and severe) lung injuries occur due to direct or indirect causes:
Acute lung injury is a critical condition that requires constant oversight by a team of specially-trained caregivers. The critical care physicians at Children's Health℠ are international leaders in pediatric critical care. They work closely with nurses, respiratory therapists and other team members to make sure that your child gets whatever is needed at a moment's notice.
The following are customary treatments for acute lung injury. Your child’s doctor may use a combination of these treatment methods:
The critical care team at Children's Health℠ is prepared to treat children with any critical care diagnosis or crisis, including acute lung injury. At Children’s, we provide patient-centered care, which means we put your child’s interests at the forefront. We have multiple resources that are designed to not only meet the needs of your child, but also your entire family. Some of those resources include
Immediate family is welcome 24 hours a day and we even provide sleeping accommodations, though they are limited.
Although our main focus has always been high-quality patient care, many of our medical staff members also conduct research into new treatment methods and technologies. This allows Children’s to have access to new therapies years before they are available at other institutions.
Our medical staff also wrote one of the major textbooks in the field of pediatric critical care, which helped define how Pediatric critical care is provided nationally.
For more information on acute lung injury, refer to the following resources: