Plasmodium falciparum malaria: cerebral malaria

Cerebral malaria: gross pathology This is a coronal slice of the brain of a child with cerebral malaria. Many small petechial haemorrhages are present in the white matter and the corpus callosum. The ventricles are slit-like, because they are compressed. The cause of this cerebral swelling is unclear (possibly cerebral oedema). The swelling did not cause clinically significant raised intracranial pressure with coning of the brain stem. Images W0043241 and W0043242 show specimens from the same patient.