Histologic and non-histologic factors correlated with survival time in supratentorial astrocytic tumors.

One hundred and ninety-two cases of supratentorial astrocytic tumors are classified in 4 groups according to the presence or absence in the pathological material of simple morphological criteria: abnormal cellular density, nuclear pleomorphism, neovascularization, necrosis. Each one of these criteria is strongly correlated with prognosis. Nevertheless only a simple classification in low and high grade lesions has a definite predictive value. A multivariate analysis utilizing Cox's hazard function confronts these histological findings with a number of clinical and etiological possible factors of prognosis. Age and performance status at the time of diagnosis are the best predictors of survival time. The clinical use of a predictive model derived from Cox's function analysis is discussed.