Browse Day: December 18, 2009

Common brain tumors

COMMON BRAIN TUMORS IN ADULTS WITH PERCENTAGE INCIDENCE BY CATEGORY:

METASTATIC PRIMARY EXTRA-AXIAL PRIMARY INTRA-AXIAL
Lung (37) Meningioma (80) Glioblastoma (47)
Breast (19) Acoustic neuroma (10) Anaplastic astrocytoma (24)
Melanoma (16) Pituitary adenoma (7) Astrocytoma (15)
Colorectum (9) Other (3) Oligodendroglioma (5)
Kidney (8) Lymphoma (2)
Other (11) Other (7)

These figures, given in parentheses, can be extremely variable from one center to another, depending on referral pattern. They are given here as general estimates based upon many published series.

WORLD HEALTH ORGANIZATION CLASSIFICATION OF BRAIN TUMORS:

A. Astrocytic tumors
1. Astrocytoma
a.Fibrillary
b.Protoplasmic
c.Gemistocytic
2. Pilocytic
astrocytoma
3. Subependymal
giant cell astrocytoma (ventricular tumor or tuberous sclerosis)
4. Astroblastoma
5. Anaplastic
(malignant) astrocytoma
B. Oligodendroglial tumors
1.
Oligodendroglioma
2. Mixed
oligoastrocytoma
3. Anaplastic
(malignant) oligodendroglioma
C. Ependymal and choroid plexus
tumors
1.Ependymoma
Variants:
a.Myxopapillary ependymoma
b.Papillary ependymoma
c.Subependymoma
2. Anaplastic
(malignant) ependymoma
3. Choroid plexus
papilloma
4. Anaplastic
(malignant) choroid plexus papilloma
D. Pineal cell tumor
1. Pineocytoma (pinealcytoma)
2. Pineoblastoma (pinealoblastoma)
E. Neuronal tumors
1. Gangliocytoma
2. Ganglioglioma
3.Ganglioneuroblastoma
4. Anaplastic
(malignant) gangliocytoma and ganglioglioma
5. Neuroblastoma
F. Poorly differentiated and
embryonal tumors
1. Glioblastoma
Variants:
a.Glioblastoma with sarcomatous component (mixed glioblastoma and sarcoma)
b.Giant cell glioblastoma
2. Medulloblastoma
Variants:
a.Desmoplastic medulloblastoma
b.Medullomyoblastoma
3.Medulloepithelioma
4. Primitive polar
spongioblastoma
5. Gliomatosis
cerebri

This is one of several formal schemes that are based on neuropathologic criteria. Metastasis is not considered, and one can get no sense of a given tumor as a clinical problem, as suggested by the simple classification in previous table.