Pathology and neuroepidemiology of the brain and nervous system

The main contributions in 1990 to oncology of the nervous system in the fields of pathology and epidemiology are discussed in this review. In the area of pathology many articles are devoted to case series and to clinicopathologic correlations, especially for brain tumors in children, for which precise correlations are still lacking. Immunohistochemistry is widely represented in this year's literature and its contributions are directed primarily to the recognition of antigens or new antigens in the tumors, in order to reach a more appropriate classification of information on pathogenesis. Other problems were those of the relationship between angiogenesis and tumor invasion, the characteristics of tumor invasiveness, tumor immunology, host resistance, and molecular aspects. A number of papers have also been dedicated to cell kinetics and to the application of methods revealing the proliferation potential of tumors, to achieve a better prognostic formulation from biopsies. Epidemiologic studies continue to explore the incidence of tumors, especially in young patients, and the associations with exposures to different stimuli and immunosuppression.