Evolution of ARDS Biomarkers, Will Metabolomics Be the Answer?

To date there is no clinically agreed upon diagnostic test for acute respiratory distress syndrome (ARDS): the condition is still diagnosed based on a constellation of clinical findings, laboratory tests and radiological images. Development of ARDS biomarkers has been in a state of continuous flux during the past four decades. To address ARDS heterogeneity, several studies have recently focused on subphenotying the disease based on observable clinical characteristics and associated blood biomarkers. However, the strong correlation between identified biomarkers and ARDS subphenotypes has yet to establish etiology hence the need for the adoption of other methodologies for studying ARDS. In this review we will shed light on ARDS metabolomics research in the literature and discuss advances and major obstacles encountered in ARDS metabolomics research. Generally, the ARDS metabolomics studies focused on identification of differentiating metabolites for diagnosing ARDS, but they were performed to different stan...