Acute pulmonary edema in Plasmodium falciparum malaria.

This report describes a patient who developed acute pulmonary edema as a complication of Plasmodium falciparum malaria. Hemodynamic evaluation revealed a pulmonary artery wedge pressure of 3 mm Hg and a cardiac index of 4.6 liter per min per m2. The patient exhibited an acute decrease in serum colloid osmotic pressure from 25.1 mm Hg to 16.8 mm Hg. These findings suggest that pulmonary edema in this patient was the result of altered capillary membrane permeability.