ISOLATED PONTINE LESION IN ALGID CEREBRAL MALARIA - CLINICAL-FEATURES, MANAGEMENT, AND MAGNETIC-RESONANCE-IMAGING FINDINGS

Malaria, the most important of all tropical diseases, causes approxima te one million deaths per year. In Plasmodium falciparum malaria, the organs most affected are the brain, kidneys, lungs, and liver. Cerebra l involvement is the most important lethal complication with a mortali ty rate of up to 50%. We report a patient with malignant, tertian falc iparum malaria with an initial parasitemia rate of 60% and severe cere bral, hepatorenal, and pulmonary involvement. In addition to the sever e diffuse encephalopathy, an initial neurologic examination showed sig ns of a pontine lesion that was confirmed by cerebral magnetic resonan ce imaging. We therefore conclude that cerebral malaria may be respons ible for focal neurologic lesions that can be demonstrated by this pro cedure.