Mannitol as Adjunct Therapy for Childhood Cerebral Malaria
Status:
Unknown status
Trial end date:
2005-05-01
Target enrollment:
Participant gender:
Summary
Cerebral malaria is a life-threatening complication of Plasmodium falciparum infection in
African children and nonimmune travellers despite availability of quinine, the current drug
of choice. Several reports have suggested that raised intracranial pressure (ICP) is a major
cause of death among children with cerebral malaria. Mannitol, an osmotic diuretic,
effectively lowers ICP and is used to treat post traumatic raised ICP. There have been some
case reports of reduction in mortality and morbidity in African children with cerebral
malaria following administration of mannitol, but as these were not randomized controlled
trials it is difficult to evaluate their significance. This study seeks to establish whether
a single dose of intravenous mannitol given to children with cerebral malaria will
significantly reduce the coma recovery time.