The purposes of this study are to assess rapidly innovative treatment methods in patients
with adult respiratory distress syndrome (ARDS) as well as those at risk of developing ARDS
and to create a network of interactive Critical Care Treatment Groups (CCTGs) to establish
and maintain the required infrastructure to perform multiple therapeutic trials that may
involve investigational drugs, approved agents not currently used for treatment of ARDS, or
treatments currently used but whose efficacy has not been well documented.