Surgical results in anaplastic oligodendroglioma (AO) and anaplastic oligoastrocytoma (AOA)

Abstract

Abstract Oligodendroglioma is the second most common primary intra-axial brain tumor. These tumors are diffusely infiltrating and composed of well-differentiated cells that resemble normal oligodendrocytes. Typically, oligodendrogliomas develop in the fourth-fifth decades of life and usually involve the cerebral hemispheres. Genome sequence profiling has ushered in a new era of cancer research that has led to the systematic clustering and cataloguing of oligodendrogliomas not based on histopathology but based on molecular phenotype. For patients with oligodendroglioma, treatment decisions and prognosis are predicated on these molecular findings, as well as other factors including location, size, grade, and extent of surgical resection. Anaplastic oligodendrogliomas, pediatric oligodendrogliomas and spinal cord oligodendrogliomas are much less common entities. Based on the most recent WHO guidelines, oligoastrocytoma is no longer a clinical entity and is not discussed in this chapter.