急性呼吸窘迫症候群(ARDS)是一個具有生命威脅性的疾病。雖然文獻上在1967年就首次被提到，但是之後關於ARDS發表文獻上的定義都沒有統一。直到1994年歐美共識會議對ARDS的定義( 以下簡稱AECC定義) 、機轉、預後及臨床試驗加以說明與規範後，AECC定義才廣為被接受並且使用於臨床診治或是研究上。隨著對ARDS的了解越來越清楚，一些AECC定義的不足，也隨之浮現出來。也因此於2011年，世界各國的學者開始著手進行ARDS定義的修訂。本篇文章主要回顧ARDS一詞的歷史與過去的定義、同時指出AECC定義的限制並且介紹ARDS的新定義--柏林定義。

Acute respiratory distress syndrome (ARDS) is a life-threatening disorder. Although it was first described in 1967, multiple definitions were used until in 1994 while the definitions, mechanisms, relevant outcomes and clinical trial coordination of ARDS were clarified and established by AECC (The American-European Consensus Conference). Since then, AECC definition was widely adopted by clinicians and researchers. With the advance of the knowledge of ARDS, many issues about various criteria of the AECC definition have come out. Therefore, the refined definition of ARDS was initiative to develop in 2011. In this article we will briefly review the history as well as previous definition of ARDS, point out the limitation of AECC definition and introduce the new definition of ARDS--Berlin definition.