Pulmonology Coding Alert

If you’re unsure of what an ARDS case might look like when reading documentation, get to know these specifics about the illness.

ARDS results from a severe injury to most or all of both lungs. Although ARDS is not a specific disease, it is a lung dysfunction associated with several diseases, such as COVID-19, pneumonia, shock, sepsis, and trauma. Patients with ARDS may have severe shortness of breath and almost always are in respiratory failure.

Although the precise cause of ARDS remains unknown, the syndrome can come about in two ways. First is a direct physical or toxic injury to the lungs, such as aspiration, smoke, or other toxic fumes, and severe bruising usually caused by a blow to the chest. Second is an indirect, blood-borne injury to the lungs, for example, severe infection and certain types of drug overdoses.

Typically, at the onset of ARDS, most of both lungs are involved. When alveoli are damaged, some collapse or fill with fluid. Consequently, the lungs have difficulty absorbing oxygen.

Within one to two days, progressive interference with gas exchange can bring about severe respiratory failure. Over the next several days, the lungs fill with inflammatory cells. Formation of scar tissue (fibrosis), which can further interfere with gas exchange, begins after 10 days and can become quite extensive by the third week after onset.