Primitive Neuroectodermal Tumor - A Concept Requiring an Apologia?

Abstract

Concepts relating to cell of origin and nosology of the group of central nervous system (CNS) tumors composed largely of primitive neuroepithelial cells (PNECs) date back to 1925 when the prototype tumor in this group, the medulloblastoma, was defined as a clinical and pathologic entity by Bailey and Cushing (1925). Tumors of this type had been described by others around the turn of the century but had carried a variety of names, most including the term sarcoma (Zülch 1965).