Description: The development of pulmonary oedema is subdivided into cases of cardiogenic and non-cardiogenic origin. Cardiogenic oedema pathogenically is caused by elevated hydrostatic pressure in the pulmonary capillaries due to left sided congestive heart failure. Non-cardiogenic pulmonary oedema is categorised depending on the underlying pathogenesis in low alveolar pressure, elevated permeability or neurogenic oedema. Some important examples of causes are upper airway obstruction as in laryngeal paralysis or strangulation for low alveolar pressure, leptospirosis and ARDS for elevated permeability, and epilepsy, brain trauma or electrocution for neurogenic oedema. The differentiation between cardiogenic versus non-cardiogenic genesis is not always straightforward, but most relevant, because treatment markedly differs between the two. Of further importance is the identification of the specific underlying cause in non-cardiogenic oedema, not only for therapeutic but particularly for prognostic reasons. Depending on the cause the prognosis ranges from very poor to good chances of complete recovery