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Classifications of childhood brain tumors
Author(s) -
Gilles Floyd H.
Publication year - 1985
Publication title -
cancer
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 3.052
H-Index - 304
eISSN - 1097-0142
pISSN - 0008-543X
DOI - 10.1002/1097-0142(19851001)56:7+<1850::aid-cncr2820561327>3.0.co;2-8
Subject(s) - scrutiny , medicine , pathology , law , political science
Diagnostic classifications of brain tumors do not necessarily reflect natural orders in biology. They are hypothetic statements about relationships among histologic features within tumors that have been fabricated for the purposes of understanding, communicating, and predicting brain tumor biology. Historically, they have been constructed in response to specific needs and have changed to meet new needs. The classifications in use today are built on arbitrary a priori dicta and assumptions that may not stand scientific scrutiny and may obscure efforts of physicians at prognosis. Classifications ignore the influence of site and age upon prognosis. For future use, the differing goals of prognosis and genesis may require different classifications. Cancer 56: 1850‐1857, 1985.