Thirty-two cases of human central nervous tumor and one experimental glioma were studied in fixed paraffin or epon embedded tissues using the peroxidase-antiperoxidase method. The present study confirms the usefulness of immunohistochemical methods for the diagnostic evaluation of neuro-epithelial neoplasms. The authors also include some prognostic and histogenetic comments about glial tumors.

A case of intracerebral granular cell tumor is described in a 64 year-old woman. The originality of this study comes from the histological and histochemical evidence of its astrocytic origin. The authors also include clinical, pathological and histogenetic comments about this tumor.

A mediastinal and intraspinal collar-stud tumour in a 77 year-old-woman is reported. The orginality of this study comes from the histologic findings of a combined neurilemmoma and angioma. The authors also include a brief review of literature and clinicopathological and histogenetic comments, about these combined tumours.

Two cases of intracranial gliomas with extraneural metastases are described. Case 1, studied with biopsy material only, was a left malignant astrocytoma from the area of the rolandic fissure with right cervical lymph nodes metastases in a 43-year-old man. Case 2 was a left temporal malignant astrocytoma in a 21-year-old woman. Fifteen days after craniotomy, a left submandibular lymph node metastasis appeared. Forty days after surgery, a ventriculoperitoneal shunt was performed. Fifty-four days after surgery, the patient died. Autopsy revealed three liver metastases. Our review of the literature consists of 72 autopsy cases with extraneural deposits. Thos metastases occurred mainly in adults (63/72) and among men (46/72). The primary glioma was supratentorial in 67 cases. Metastases were mainly pulmonary and pleural. The majority of patients (82.8%) died within 2 years after onset of symptoms. In 8 of the cases, metastasis developed without any craniotomy and in 8 other cases, through a shunt.

Anatomical and clinical findings in 9 cases of primary brain tumors with metastases within (7 cases) or outside of (2 cases) the nervous system are reported. A review of the published literature revealed 248 cases of histologically-confirmed central nervous system tumors with metastases outside of the nervous system. These secondary sites are seen more frequently in adult males. Their frequency, in descending order, was gliomas (39,5 p. 100), meningeal tumors and sarcomas (28,2 p. 100), neuronal tumors (14,1 p. 100), lymphoma-microgliomas (12,5 p. 100), pineal body tumors (4 p. 100), and melanomas (1,6 p. 100). Ten cases out of 248 developed through a shunt. Nineteen cases were discovered without any surgical operation. There are still many unknown factors concerning their pathogenesis. It appears, however, than in some series of patients the prolongation of the survival-rate and the late effects of surgical operation are positive factors for metastatic dissemination.

A new anatomo-clinical case of vertebro-basilar dissecting aneurysm in a 43 year old woman is reported. The originality of this study comes from the autopsic discovery of an intimal fibro-dysplasia at the origin of the dissection in the left vertebral artery. The authors also included anatomoclinical and pathogenic comments about both the lesions discussed.

The authors report a clinical and pathological case of carcinoïd heart disease in a 70-years old man. The primary carcinoïd tumor was ileal with both hepatic and neighbouring lymph node metastases. The clinical history was dominated by a typical carcinoïd syndrom biologically confirmed and accompanied by a tricuspid insufficiency. An autopsy permitted to described with precision the topography and extent of the cardiac affection. The originality of this work is due to the ultrastructural study which has rarely been done. This study permitted us to make some clinical histopathological, histogenetic and pathogenetic comments.

A case of sarcoma arising in a left temporal oligodendroglioma is described in a 39-year-old male. The postoperative evolution was marked by a paraplegia linked to medullary and subarachnoid metastases. Then a relapse of the cerebral tumor occurred, and the patient died 6 months after the onset of the symptoms. Histologically, the mesenchymal component appeared fibrosarcomatous and angiosarcomatous. Those facts argue in favor of the histogenic hypotheses put forward in exceptional cases previously described, according to which the sarcoma develops from vascular elements of the glioma.