Biomarkers in Pediatric ARDS: Future Directions

Orwoll, Benjamin E.; Sapru, Anil

Data gleaned from biomarker testing may offer some of the most timely and valuable diagnostic and prognostic information available in the setting of ARDS. This is especially true in pediatric medicine, where invasive diagnostic procedures, such as bronchoscopy and biopsy, as well as radiation exposure related to diagnostic imaging, are limited as much as possible. In the setting of low mortality in pARDS, biomarkers or panels thereof may also be valuable in therapeutic trials as clinically and physiologically meaningful surrogate outcomes. Biomarkers data are used for accurate diagnosis and guidance of treatment in wide and varied medical conditions, but efforts to expand their use in pARDS continue to suffer from challenges due to the relatively low incidence of the disease, standardization of diagnostic criteria and measurement techniques, and funding limitations. Collaboration between nations and institutions is essential for replication of initial results, continued innovation, and to expand the applicability of findings to more diverse pediatric populations.