PRIMARY INTRACRANIAL SARCOMAS

Abstract

The structural peculiarities of intracranial sarcomatous tumors were discussed by Bailey¹in 1929 and again, with Bucy,²in 1931. Nevertheless, that the conclusions of those articles have not been thoroughly grasped by pathologists is evidenced by the fact that among the tumors sent to this clinic for differential diagnosis there is an unusually large percentage of sarcomatous tumors. For this reason it seems worth while to discuss this question further. The term sarcoma in its original sense means only a fleshy tumor. In this sense the number of sarcomas in the brain is great, and this fact is reflected in the older literature. But when the term sarcoma was restricted to malignant tumors of mesodermal origin, pathologists became aware that most of the tumors of the brain no longer belonged in this category, and the diagnosis "sarcoma of the brain" almost disappeared. Newer studies of the finer microscopic