National Journal of Laboratory Medicine (Apr 2021)
Trends of Central Nervous System Tumours and their Histological Subtypes in a Tertiary Care Centre in Southern India
Abstract
Introduction: Study of Central Nervous System (CNS) tumours is quite interesting for the varied spectrum we come across and the significant morbidity they cause. They constitute 2% of all adult malignancies but there is 20% of childhood malignancies. Even though there is bimodal age peaks in the incidence, paediatric age group CNS tumours are quite different biologically and histologically from adult brain tumours. Some of the brain tumours have a dismal prognosis while some have good outcome depending on the extent of removal. Aim: To study the trend of the incidence of various CNS tumours and their histological subtypes at ESIC Sanathnagar, Hyderabad, India over a period of seven years. Materials and Methods: The present study is a retrospective descriptive analysis of CNS specimens received at the Department of Pathology, ESIC Superspeciality Hospital, Sanathnagar over a period of seven years which were confirmed on Histopathological Examination (HPE) as CNS tumours. This article is a study of CNS tumours, their trends in incidence in accordance with their age, sex, clinical presentation, and site of occurrence. The specimens were formalin fixed, underwent routine automatic tissue processing, paraffin embedded and Haematoxylin and Eosin (H&E) staining was done. Immunohistochemistry, special stains were done when necessary. Reporting was done according to the prevailing World Health Organisation (WHO) classification system of tumours of the CNS (2007/2016). The results were analysed using percentages and mean scores. Results: In this study, gliomas, meningiomas and schwannomas were the most common groups with higher incidence in males in the age group of 40-50 years. The frontal lobe was most commonly involved. Conclusion: In this study, an emphasis was laid on the variety of CNS tumours that are generally encountered, their age and gender distribution. Histopathological confirmation seems to be the gold standard and is an essential preliminary step for management.
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