Frequency of central nervous system tumors in delta region, Egypt

Introduction and Aim of Work: Central nervous system (CNS) tumors represent a major public health problem, and their epidemiological data in Egypt have been rather incomplete except for some regional reports. There are no available frequency-based data on CNS tumors in our locality. The objective of this study was to estimate the frequency of CNS tumors in east delta region, Egypt. Materials and Methods: The data were collected during the 8-year period from January 1999 to December 2007 from Pathology Department, Mansoura University, and other referred pathology labs. Examination of HandE stained sections from retrieved paraffin blocks were done in all cases for histopathologic categorization of C.N.S. tumors. Immunohistochemical studies were applied to confirm final histopathologic diagnosis in problematic cases. Results: Intracranial tumors represented 86.7% of cases in comparison to only 13.3% for spinal tumors. Gliomas were the CNS tumors of the highest frequency (35.2%), followed by meningioma (25.6%), pituitary adenoma (11.6%) and nerve sheath tumors (6.6%). 10.25% of tumors were of children <15 years. Conclusion: This study provides the largest series of the relative frequency of CNS tumors in Delta region in Egypt till now and may help to give insight into the epidemiology of CNS tumors in our locality.