Abstract：Sepsis is a major disease and a major difficulty in critical care medicine. Acute respiratory distress syndrome (ARDS) is a major complication of sepsis. ARDS appears earliest in the process of multi-system damage in sepsis with a high incidence. The pathogenesis of it is complex；the fatality rate is high and the clinical therapeutic effect is limited. In the past， there was no systematic understanding and discussion of this disease in Chinese medicine. To further summarize and explore the evolution of Chinese medicine pathogenesis during the occurrence and development of this disease is conducive to giving full play to the advantages of Chinese medicine intervention and improving the effect of integrated Chinese and western medicine in the treatment of critical diseases.