Correlation of retinal haemorrhages with brain haemorrhages in children dying of cerebral malaria in Malawi

Abstract

Retinal haemorrhages increase in number with severity of Plasmodium falciparum malaria and occur in 35-40% of children with cerebral malaria. We performed clinical retinal examinations and histopathological examinations of retina, and parietal and cerebellar sections of the brains, in 33 children in Malawi who died with cerebral malaria, severe malaria anaemia, or coma of other causes. Haemorrhages were counted in a standardized fashion: the Spearman correlation coefficient between the number of haemorrhages in retina and brain was 0.741 for parietal tissue and 0.703 for cerebellar (P < 0.01 for both). Severity of haemorrhage in the retina correlates well with that in the brain. Retinal examination in cerebral malaria is a useful tool in predicting some of the pathophysiological processes occurring in the brain.