title: Influence of the type of surgery on the histologic diagnosis in patients with anaplastic gliomas.
abstract: Stereotactic biopsy of CNS tumors provides a small amount of tissue for pathologic diagnosis. This potentially leads to inaccurate grading of gliomas because of their histologic heterogeneity. We compared histologic diagnoses in a consecutive series of 329 patients with newly diagnosed anaplastic gliomas whose diagnoses were established by either stereotactic biopsy or open resection. Of 262 patients undergoing resection, 214 (82%) had glioblastomas and 48 (18%) had anaplastic astrocytomas (AAs). Of 67 patients undergoing stereotactic biopsy, 33 (49%) had glioblastomas and 34 (51%) had AAs. This difference suggests that some AAs diagnosed by stereotactic biopsy are actually glioblastomas and has important implications for the design and interpretation of clinical trials.
authors.affiliation: Duke University Medical Center, Durham, NC 27710.
authors.forename: M J
authors.initials: MJ
authors.lastname: Glantz
authors.forename: P C
authors.initials: PC
authors.lastname: Burger
authors.forename: J E
authors.initials: JE
authors.lastname: Herndon
authors.forename: A H
authors.initials: AH
authors.lastname: Friedman
authors.forename: J G
authors.initials: JG
authors.lastname: Cairncross
authors.forename: N A
authors.initials: NA
authors.lastname: Vick
authors.forename: S C
authors.initials: SC
authors.lastname: Schold
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D001254:Astrocytoma / Q000473:pathology* / Q000601:surgery; D001706:Biopsy / Q000379:methods; D001932:Brain Neoplasms / Q000473:pathology* / Q000601:surgery; D005260:Female; D007839:Functional Laterality; D005909:Glioblastoma / Q000473:pathology* / Q000601:surgery; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D012680:Sensitivity and Specificity; D012737:Sex Factors; D013238:Stereotaxic Techniques