Histological subtypes of symptomatic central nervous system tumours in Singapore

The objective was to identify the different subtypes of symptomatic CNS tumours that are encountered in Singapore. Our hospital pathology and operative records from 1994 to 1998 were reviewed and information regarding all patients who underwent biopsy or resection as part of their diagnostic and therapeutic evaluation was extracted. Only histologically confirmed tumours were included in this analysis. Meningiomas made up the largest subgroup of tumours, accounting for 35.1% of all tumours. In order of decreasing frequency, the remaining most often reported histologies were pituitary adenomas (11.8%), secondary neoplasms (10%), tumours of nerve sheath (9.4%), glioblastoma multiforme (9.3%), astrocytomas including anaplastic, diffuse and pilocytic (9.2%), primary CNS lymphomas (2.9%), oligodendrogliomas (2.2%), hemangioblastomas (2. 2%), craniopharyngiomas (1.7%), and embryonal tumours (1.2%). Genetic and environmental factors may be responsible for the proportionately higher than expected percentage of meningiomas seen and further study is required to identify these factors.