Acute mountain sickness can progress to high altitude pulmonary edema (HAPE) or high altitude cerebral edema (HACE), which are potentially fatal.

Macular edema occurs when fluid and protein deposits collect on or under the macula of the eye (a yellow central area of the retina) and causes it to thicken and swell (edema).

Addison disliked the modern reliance on laboratory and theoretical results favoured by the new generation, and challenged Richard Bright (who gave his name to Bright's disease) when Bright suggested that the source of the problem in oedema was the kidneys.

Its Organic Law, adopted in 1993, defines it as a decentralized body established for an indefinite period, having legal personality, its own resources, full capacity to acquire rights and enter into obligations, and technical and functional independence.

The name is an acronym deriving from some of the main features Polyneuropathy (peripheral nerve damage), Organomegaly (abnormal enlargement of organs), Endocrinopathy (damage to hormone producing glands) or Edema, M protein (an abnormal immunoglobulin) and Skin abnormalities (including hyperpigmentation and hypertrichosis).