Familial Brain Tumours

Heredity, environment, the role of infectious agents, and other influences have been cited within a multiplicity of factors of possible relevance to the problem of neoplasm etiology. In some cases, such as that of retinoblastoma the influence of hereditary factors has been clearly established. The influence of genetic factors in cerebral tumour development has been under discussion since as early as 1896 when Besold reported two sisters suffering from brain tumours. Although much more is now known about the classification, prognosis, and treatment of these tumours, and a number of familial cases have been reported, the present data are insufficient to permit conclusions regarding the influence of hereditary factors in the etiology of most types of cerebral neoplasms, and research in this area is urgently required. Research on familial brain tumours must still be largely based upon the cumulative case histories which have been reported. Although a number of papers contain historical reviews, some in tabulated form, the actual data have not been readily available to the researcher, each investigator being obliged to compile anew all reports published on the subject over an 80 year period. This book represents an attempt by the present authors to assemble the pertinent data on individual cases of familial brain tumours published since 1896. For this purpose the essential information from the original articles in German, French, Dutch, Spanish, Italian, Polish, and Czechoslovakian have been translated into English.