Brain tumors
Updates to Article Attributes
Brain tumours arise from the normal constituents of the brain and its coverings (meninges). Spinal tumours are considered separately.
Epidemiology
As a general rule, brain tumours increase in frequency with age, with individual exceptions (e.g. pilocytic astrocytoma, the vast majority of which are found in young patients), and a number of uncommon tumours found in infancy (see brain tumours of infancy). There are few gender differences, except that as a general rule, gliomas are more frequent in men and meningiomas are more frequent in women.
Pathology
There are numerous individual tumour entities which come under the umbrella term "brain tumour" (see WHO Classification of CNS tumours). They can broadly be divided into:
- neuroepithelial (50%)*
- astrocytoma (44%)
- ependymoma (3%)
- medulloblastoma (3%)
- oligodendroglioma (2%)
- meningioma (15%)
- metastases (15%)
- pituitary tumours (8%)
- acoustic schwannoma (8%)
- primary CNS lymphoma (2.5%)
- pineal tumours
- intracranial germ cell tumours 0.4% to 3.4% 4 (around the pineal, third ventricle or suprasellar region)
* N.B. figures vary widely depending on the study (figures quoted are mostly from AH Kaye 3).
Another set of figures to ponder 5:
- overall incidence: 5-13 cases per 100,000
- incidence in children: 2-4 cases per 100,000
- 80% of all intracranial tumours are supratentorial
- 40% are metastases
- 70% of tumours in 1-year-olds to adolescents are in the posterior fossa
-
of supratentorial tumours50% are supratentorial30% are astrocytomas6% are gangliogliomas
-<a href="/articles/acoustic-schwannoma-1">acoustic schwannoma</a> (8%)</li>- +<a href="/articles/acoustic-neuroma-1">acoustic schwannoma</a> (8%)</li>
-<li>of supratentorial tumours<ul>-<li>50% are supratentorial</li>-<li>30% are astrocytomas</li>-<li>6% are gangliogliomas</li>-</ul>-</li>
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