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.