Oligodendroglioma. Histologic evaluation and prognosis.

All oligodendrogliomas registered in Norway during a 25-year period (1953-1977) were studied to establish the frequency of different histologic features and to compare them with survival data of the patients. The minimum observation time was five years. The original tumor specimens from 208 patients were independently reexamined by two pathologists. The characteristic oligodendroglioma of this series was of medium cell density (53% of lesions), with moderate nuclear atypia, with vascular endothelial proliferation (53%), calcification (56%), with from one to five mitotic figures per ten high power fields, and without microcystic degenerative changes (58%). Subpial tumor cell infiltration, perivascular lymphocytic infiltration and local leptomeningeal invasion were present in a minority of cases. In 11 cases autopsy material was the only source of diagnosis. Microcysts, necrosis, and cell density were the only histologic features of prognostic significance. Subpial infiltrative growth was of suggestive prognostic value. There was no significant association between the number of mitotic figures and survival. Vascular endothelial proliferation, calcification, pronounced nuclear atypia, perivascular lymphocytic infiltration and local leptomeningeal invasion were of no significant prognostic value. Age at operation did not alter these conclusions, neither did sex nor duration of preoperative symptoms.