Current management guidelines for COVID-19 refect the assumption that critically ill patients infected with SARS-CoV-2 develop acute respiratory distress syndrome (ARDS). However, emerging data and clinical reports increasingly suggest an alternative view that severe COVID-19 refects a confuence of vascular dysfunction, thrombosis, and dysregulated infammation.
Severe COVID‑19 is distinct from ARDS and cytokine‑release syndromes
Published data [1, 2], anecdotal observations, and discussions with colleagues worldwide indicate that COVIDinduced respiratory phenotypes are distinct from typical ARDS in several ways [2]. COVID-19 patients develop profound hypoxemia early in their disease course. However, overt respiratory dysfunction at these early stages is unusual. Pulmonary compliance in intubated COVID19 patients appears to be only modestly decreased, and patients are therefore relatively easy to ventilate [1].
