A Classification of the Tumors of the Glioma Group on a Histogenetic Basis with a Correlated Study of Prognosis.

the first systematic classification of brain tumors

First edition of this key work on brain tumors by two pioneering neurosurgeons. Uncommon.

Physician Percival Bailey (1892-1973) was particularly interested in the brain, and so joined Harvey Cushing's department at the Brigham Hospital shortly after completing his medical internship. 'Cushing had been amassing an extensive repository of brain tumor specimens. At the time, doctors realized that some brain tumors grew aggressively, whereas others were relatively benign. But they had no way to know which was which. Bailey believed that Cushing's collection might hold the clues to predicting how tumors would behave. He began by grouping the specimens according to the length of time each patient survived. He then exhaustively examined more than 400 tumors, correlating their microscopic appearance with clinical outcomes. The resulting classification, published by Bailey and Cushing in 1925, demonstrated that the cellular structure of a tumor can guide treatment and prognosis. And it laid the groundwork for the system presented by the World Health Organization in 2016 to describe and diagnose gliomas: tumors that arise from glia, the various types of supportive cells of the central nervous system' ('A History of the Classification of Glioma Brain Tumors', Brain Facts, Society for Neuroscience).

First edition; 8vo; illustrations from photos throughout, ink ownership signature of George T. Caldwell to the title and his underlining within the text, contents faintly toned in the margins; original red cloth, titles to spine gilt, cloth a little rubbed with some wear at the corners and ends of spine, a very good copy; 175pp.