Fig. 1

Flowchart of the study. Study assessments are displayed in black dots, while protective and injurious ventilation phases are shown for both study groups. Major check includes: Arterial and mixed venous blood gases, hemodynamics, urine output and bispectral index. Abbreviations: ARDS: acute respiratory distress syndrome; P.V.: protective ventilation. ARDS diagnosis time point in the pneumonia-without-VILI group corresponds to 30 h from bacterial inoculum, which is the median time from inoculum to ARDS diagnosis in the pneumonia-with-VILI group. This equivalence needed to be done for comparison reasons because the pneumonia-without-VILI group never met the Berlin criteria for ARDS diagnosis