Epidemiology of brain tumors

Abstract

Brain tumors are classified on the basis of histopathology into the follow-ing major histologic groupings: tumors of neuroepithelial tissue (hereafter referred to as glioma, including astrocytoma [grade II], anaplastic astrocy-toma [grade III], glioblastoma [grade IV], oligodendroglioma, and ependymoma), tumors of meninges (including meningioma and hemangio-blastoma), germ cell tumors, and tumors of sellar region (including pituitary tumors and craniopharyngioma). This article reviews the incidence of brain tumors in terms of temporal, demographic, and geographic variation. The incidence and survival probability of brain tumors are summarized using information from the Central Brain Tumor Registry of the United States (CBTRUS) [1] and the Surveillance, Epidemiology and End Results (SEER) program of the National Cancer Institute [2] and literature is reviewed pertaining to risk and prognostic factors, focusing on compelling Neurol Clin 25 (2007) 867–890and promising lines of research that have emerged from the brain tumor literature and from descriptive comparisons. Because only recent researc