Brain swelling and death in children with cerebral malaria

Supported by a grant (5R01AI034969) from the National Institutes of Health and by a Strategic Award for the Malawi–Liverpool–Wellcome Clinical Research Programme from the Wellcome Trust U.K. General Electric Healthcare donated the Signa 0.35-T magnetic resonance imager (MRI) used in this work, and the Michigan State University College of Osteopathic Medicine sponsored the construction of the building that houses the MRI in Malawi.Case fatality rates among African children with cerebral malaria remain in the range of 15 to 25%. The key pathogenetic processes and causes of death are unknown, but a combination of clinical observations and pathological findings suggests that increased brain volume leading to raised intracranial pressure may play a role. Magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) became available in Malawi in 2009, and we used it to investigate the role of brain swelling in the pathogenesis of fatal cerebral malaria in African children.Publisher PDFPeer reviewe