[The role of stereotaxic biopsy in the therapeutic approach to malignant gliomas (author's transl)].

Analysis of 770 biopsies of intra-cerebral neoplasms under stereotaxic conditions and performed in Bordeaux, Rennes and Marseilles. The study emphasized the relative benign nature of this examination (1% deaths, 1.4 % severe sequellae) bearing in mind the severity of the underlying disease. In a very large number of cases (from 7 to 38% according to Schools) the diagnosis made before biopsy was fundamentally altered by this examination. The quasi-certitude of the nature of the lesion, and the possible facilitation of surgery by the precision of the lesional topography, and finally the possibility of a therapeutic gesture of evacuation in certain cases, is felt to justify intra-cranial biopsy performed under stereotaxic conditions.