A statistical study of brain tumors in Japan: general features. The Committee of the Brain Tumor Registry in Japan.

A total of 20,192 brain tumors, registered in Japan between 1969 and 1978 have been studied. Differences in frequency between Japan and other countries, and also between children and adults were discussed in relation to tumor distribution, by site in the brain, and the frequencies of various types tumor were classified pathologically and by age and sex. Glioma frequency in Japan was a little lower (38.1%) than in western countries and China (43-49%). Germinomas occurred in 435 patients in all age groups (2.7% of primary tumors), of whom 184 were children (7.8% of primary pediatric brain tumors), these percentages being also much larger than those found outside Japan. The frequencies of craniopharyngiomas were also high in Japan, having totals of 914 cases, or 5.8%, from all primary tumors, and 295 cases, or 12.5%, from all primary pediatric brain tumors. Teratomas occurred mostly in children (67% of the total) and at a relatively high frequency in infants, but, in contrast, dermoid and epidermoid cysts appeared frequently in people between 30 and 55 years of age.