title: The 2016 World Health Organization Classification of Tumors of the Central Nervous System: a summary.
abstract: The 2016 World Health Organization Classification of Tumors of the Central Nervous System is both a conceptual and practical advance over its 2007 predecessor. For the first time, the WHO classification of CNS tumors uses molecular parameters in addition to histology to define many tumor entities, thus formulating a concept for how CNS tumor diagnoses should be structured in the molecular era. As such, the 2016 CNS WHO presents major restructuring of the diffuse gliomas, medulloblastomas and other embryonal tumors, and incorporates new entities that are defined by both histology and molecular features, including glioblastoma, IDH-wildtype and glioblastoma, IDH-mutant; diffuse midline glioma, H3 K27M-mutant; RELA fusion-positive ependymoma; medulloblastoma, WNT-activated and medulloblastoma, SHH-activated; and embryonal tumour with multilayered rosettes, C19MC-altered. The 2016 edition has added newly recognized neoplasms, and has deleted some entities, variants and patterns that no longer have diagnostic and/or biological relevance. Other notable changes include the addition of brain invasion as a criterion for atypical meningioma and the introduction of a soft tissue-type grading system for the now combined entity of solitary fibrous tumor / hemangiopericytoma-a departure from the manner by which other CNS tumors are graded. Overall, it is hoped that the 2016 CNS WHO will facilitate clinical, experimental and epidemiological studies that will lead to improvements in the lives of patients with brain tumors.
authors.affiliation: Department of Pathology, Massachusetts General Hospital, Harvard Medical School, WRN225, 55 Fruit Street, Boston, MA, 02114, USA. dlouis@mgh.harvard.edu.
authors.forename: David N
authors.initials: DN
authors.lastname: Louis
authors.affiliation: Department of Pathology, University of California San Francisco, San Francisco, CA, USA.
authors.forename: Arie
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Perry
authors.affiliation: Department of Neuropathology, Heinrich Heine University, Duesseldorf, Germany.|German Cancer Consortium (DKTK), Partner Site Essen/Duesseldorf, Germany.
authors.forename: Guido
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Reifenberger
authors.affiliation: German Cancer Consortium (DKTK), Partner Site Essen/Duesseldorf, Germany.|Department of Neuropathology, Institute of Pathology, Ruprecht-Karls-University, Heidelberg, Germany.
authors.forename: Andreas
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: von Deimling
authors.affiliation: Department of Pathology and Neuropathology, La Timone Hospital, Aix Marseille University, Marseille, France.
authors.forename: Dominique
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Figarella-Branger
authors.affiliation: Ludwig Institute for Cancer Research, University of California San Diego, San Diego, CA, USA.
authors.forename: Webster K
authors.initials: WK
authors.lastname: Cavenee
authors.affiliation: International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC), Lyon, France.
authors.forename: Hiroko
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Ohgaki
authors.affiliation: German Cancer Research Center (DKFZ), Heidelberg, Germany.
authors.forename: Otmar D
authors.initials: OD
authors.lastname: Wiestler
authors.affiliation: Medical Faculty, University of Zurich, Zurich, Switzerland.
authors.forename: Paul
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Kleihues
authors.affiliation: Department of Pathology, St. Jude Children's Research Hospital, Memphis, TN, USA.
authors.forename: David W
authors.initials: DW
authors.lastname: Ellison
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D001921:Brain / Q000473:pathology*; D002490:Central Nervous System / Q000473:pathology*; D016543:Central Nervous System Neoplasms / Q000145:classification* / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000473:pathology; D005910:Glioma / Q000145:classification* / Q000473:pathology; D006801:Humans; D008579:Meningioma / Q000145:classification* / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000473:pathology; D014944:World Health Organization