[Cytogenetic study of intracranial tumors]

A cytogenetic study was made in 17 human brain tumors (12 astrocytomas, 4 meningiomas and 1 ependymoma) to know the value of in vitro tissue culture procedures for the chromosomal analysis of said neoplasms. The obtained data were compared with the observation of direct samples of the same tumors in order to differentiate neoplastic and non-neoplastic cells proliferating in vitro. It was shown the validity of the tissue culture technique for the cytogenetic analysis of brain tumors. The most frequent abnormality was hypodiploidy with involvement of number 22 chromosome. Some ependymomas had a triploid set of chromosomes. Gliomas showed abnormalities involving mainly number 1, 2, 7, 11 and 22 chromosomes.