Acute respiratory distress syndrome (ARDS) occurs when fluid builds up in the air sacs of the lungs, preventing them from opening completely and depriving the body of necessary oxygen. The condition causes significant problems in clinical management and develops in roughly eight to 10 percent of patients in the intensive care unit. Most people with ARDS require intubation and mechanical ventilation in order to survive. “The problem is, when you put people on a mechanical ventilator, it inflates your lungs differently than your diaphragm does,” Jake Stroh of the University of Colorado Anschutz Medical Campus said. “So it increases the risk of ventilator-induced lung injury (VILI).”