Analysis of morphological changes in recurrent glial tumors after surgery and telegammatherapy

In 65 cases with supratentorial localized recurrent gliomas the morphological pattern of the tumors from the first and second operation was investigated. Comparison of the tumor tissue obtained for diagnosis from the first and second operation indicated blastic transformation of the tumors observed mainly in the astrocytoma group. It has been found that the transformation proceeds in a longer time since the morphological pattern of the tumors in patients with short survival either did not change or changed only to a minor degree. It was interesting to note at the second operation that tumors with signs of differentiation and clearly defined malignancy did not correlate with survival time. It seems that the primary histological pattern of the tumor determines the survival time after the first operation.