TY - JOUR T1 - Recovery pathway of post-SARS patients JF - Thorax JO - Thorax SP - 361 LP - 362 DO - 10.1136/thx.2004.035972 VL - 60 IS - 5 AU - J C K Chan Y1 - 2005/05/01 UR - http://thorax.bmj.com/content/60/5/361.abstract N2 - The recovery pathway of SARS survivors mirrors that of ARDS patients in several respects The article by Hui et al in this issue of Thorax1 and an earlier article in Thorax by Ng et al2 on the longer term functional state of patients who have recovered from severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS) have arrived in a timely fashion for two reasons. Firstly, as survivors of the global epidemic which shocked the world in 2003, patients who have recovered from SARS are certainly an important source of world knowledge on the longer term impact of the illness on the health of those affected. Secondly, there has recently been renewed interest in the long term outcome of patients who have survived acute respiratory distress syndrome (ARDS), as evidenced by seven studies published since 2000 on patient outcome following an episode of ARDS.3–9 The question of whether SARS is just ARDS has been asked since the 2003 outbreak.10 Indeed, the more severe form of SARS does resemble ARDS, with both being a process of acute lung injury extensively involving the lungs, causing severe gas exchange impairment and requiring intensive care and ventilatory support. The recovery potential of the lungs in SARS patients may closely follow the recovery potential of ARDS patients. However, one needs to keep in mind that only about 30% of SARS patients in the cohorts reported by Hui et al and Ng et al had spent time in the intensive care unit (ICU), ventilated or otherwise. Any fair comparison of the lung recovery pattern between the … ER -