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Grading of Tumors

  • Living reference work entry
  • First Online:
Encyclopedia of Cancer

  • 28 Accesses

Synonyms

Assessment of anaplasia of a tumor; Assessment of the degree of tumor differentiation; Histologic grading; Tumor grading

Definition

Grading is a system of histopathologic tumor analysis in which a numerical or semiquantitative descriptive value (“grade” or gradus in Latin) is assigned to a neoplasm, taking into account its histologic level of differentiation and/or resemblance to the tissue of its origin, as well as the extent of anaplasia.

Characteristics

Basic Principles

More than 100 years ago, it was noticed by several pathologists that some tumors resemble histologically their tissue of origin, whereas others have lost most of such tissue-specific traits and have become anaplastic or undifferentiated. It was suggested by von Hansemann in the 1890s that one could predict the prognosis of many tumors by examining them microscopically and by taking into account their microscopic properties. This basic concept was refined subsequently by numerous pathologists worldwide until...

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References

  • Damjanov I, Fan F (eds) (2007) Cancer grading manual. Springer, New York

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  • Greene FL, Page DL, Fleming ID, Fritz AG, Balch CM, Haller DG, Morrow M (eds) (2002) AJCC cancer staging manual, 6th edn. Springer, New York

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  • Kleihues P, Cavenee WK (eds) (1997) Pathology and genetics of tumours of the nervous system. International Agency for Research on Cancer, Lyon

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See Also

  • (2012) Anaplasia. In: Schwab M (ed) Encyclopedia of Cancer, 3rd edn. Springer Berlin Heidelberg, p 168. doi: 10.1007/978-3-642-16483-5_255

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  • (2012) Differentiation. In: Schwab M (ed) Encyclopedia of Cancer, 3rd edn. Springer Berlin Heidelberg, p 1113. doi: 10.1007/978-3-642-16483-5_1616

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  • (2012) Islets of Langerhans. In: Schwab M (ed) Encyclopedia of Cancer, 3rd edn. Springer Berlin Heidelberg, p 1917. doi: 10.1007/978-3-642-16483-5_3154

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Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Pathology, University of Kansas School of Medicine, Kansas City, KS, USA

    Ivan Damjanov

Authors
  1. Ivan Damjanov
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Correspondence to Ivan Damjanov .

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. Abt. Tumorgenetik, Deutsches Krebsforschungszentrum, Heidelberg, Germany

    Manfred Schwab

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© 2015 Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg

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Damjanov, I. (2015). Grading of Tumors. In: Schwab, M. (eds) Encyclopedia of Cancer. Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-642-27841-9_2494-2

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-642-27841-9_2494-2

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  • Publisher Name: Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg

  • Online ISBN: 978-3-642-27841-9

  • eBook Packages: Springer Reference Biomedicine and Life SciencesReference Module Biomedical and Life Sciences

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