• Sebastian Riech, Kai Kallenberg, Onnen Moerer, Peter Hellen, Peter Bärtsch, Michael Quintel, and Michael Knauth.
• 1Department of Anesthesiology, Emergency and Intensive Care Medicine, University Medical Center Göttingen, Göttingen, Germany. 2Department of Diagnostic and Interventional Neuroradiology, University Medical Center Göttingen, Göttingen, Germany. 3Division of Sports Medicine, Department of Internal Medicine, Medical Clinic, University Hospital Heidelberg, Heidelberg, Germany.
• Crit. Care Med. 2015 Sep 1;43(9):e386-9.

ObjectivesAfter suffering from severe acute respiratory distress syndrome, several patients show generalized brain alterations and atrophy. A distinctive morphologic pattern of cerebral injury, however, has not been found so far.Data SourcesWe present the history of three patients who survived severe acute respiratory distress syndrome. In these patients, MRI of the brain showed multiple microhemorrhages predominantly in the splenium of the corpus callosum. An identical pattern of microhemorrhages has previously been described in mountaineers who suffered from high-altitude cerebral edema.ConclusionsThis report demonstrates that patients after treatment for acute respiratory distress syndrome and high-altitude cerebral edema show congruent cerebral injuries. Further investigation into the similarities of the causative conditions and neurologic consequences might reveal underlying pathophysiologic mechanisms and clinical implications of this observation.

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