الفهرس 
pathologyOnly 14 pages are availabe for public view
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Abstract
Brain gliomas coll..51itute one of the most lethal, least-controlled group of tumors
[Trajanowski et al, 1989]. Not all of surgeons can do for the patient what ought to be
done; sometimes, not everything that can be done should be done. On occasion, it may be
best to withhold surgery altogether and proceed with palliative or supportive therapy. In
the majority of cases, however, wme combination of open resection or stereotactic
surgery can produce a diagnosis, ameliorate symptoms, decrease the intracranial pressure
(ICP), improve neurologic status, remove most of the tumor, and deliver other therapeutic
agentS [Salclllliii, 1990].
Normal human tissues contain cells with a diploid deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA)
content corresponding to the normal karyotype of 46 chromosomes The DNA content of
a variety of tumor cells has been folll!d to be greater or less than the normal diploid value.
Such tumors are termed ” aneuploid ” . The cellular DNA content can readily be measured
cytometry [Ironside et al., 1987]. Among the substances which have been biochemically de:fined and have varying
degrees of specificity for central nervous system (CNS) tumors, glial fibrillary acidic
protein ( GF AP) is the best known and characterized. This molecule is widely used as an
antigenic marker for normal astroglial cells and for astroglial-derived tumors. AntiGFAP
monoclonal antibodies with a high degree of specificity can now be used in the
diagnosis of neurosurgical tumor biopsies and in experimental neuro·oncology [Bullard &
Bigner, 1985].
Although several prognostic factors have been proposed for brain gliomas, little is
known about the prognostic value of DNA ploidy and GFAP content. The goal of this
smdy is to correlate between ploidy and GF AP of human brain gliomas and
clinicopathological status of the patients in order to define the degree of dedifferentiation
of these tumors and to predict the prognosis of the patients, so to know a definitive
answer regarding treatment of the glioma that is currently underway.