The modern criteria for the acute respiratory distress syndrome (ARDS) diagnosis in children and the intensive care issues of this pathological condition based on the recommendations developed by the international working group and approved at the Consensus conference on acute lung injury in children are discussed in this article. Data concerning the possibility of the degree of hypoxemia in children assessing non-invasively, special aspects of the ARDS diagnosis in case of a concomitant cardiorespiratory pathology as well as a methodology for determining the risk of the pediatric ARDS development are presented.