The 2021 WHO classification of tumours of the central nervous system: a summary
The fifth-edition brain tumour classification makes molecular markers such as IDH mutation, 1p/19q codeletion and methylation class central to diagnosis, renaming and regrading many tumours, including separating IDH-mutant astrocytoma from glioblastoma.
Overview
Summary of the 2021 WHO classification of central nervous system tumours introducing integrated histological and molecular diagnoses, Arabic numeral grading within tumour types, new tumour types and families (paediatric-type diffuse gliomas, molecularly defined ependymomas and medulloblastoma groups), and grading of IDH-mutant astrocytoma up to grade 4 with CDKN2A/B deletion.
Every brain tumour page on this site uses these names and grades; a tumour called glioblastoma before 2021 may now be an IDH-mutant astrocytoma with a different outlook and treatment.
- Requires molecular testing that is not available everywhere, leaving some diagnoses as not otherwise specified.
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