[Current status of the physiopathology of pernicious malaria attacks].

The understanding of the pathophysiology of cerebral malaria has much benefited from the modern techniques of in vitro cultivation of Plasmodium falciparum and from a better knowledge of the biology of the parasite. The demonstration of the existence of "knob-like protrusions" explains some of the processes giving way to changes in the deep capillaries of viscera and particularly of brain. In a synthetic view one can say that this localized vasculopathy is the main factor of the pathologic changes observed in cerebral malaria.