The present monograph deals with the origin, location, structure, symptoms, and treatment of one pathological entity, namely, medulloblastoma.
After reviewing the known causes of malignancy, the author inclines toward the theory that medulloblastoma is a congenital tumor arising from cell rests. The medulloblast has bipotential properties and may give rise to either glial or neuronal cells. The evidence is strongly suggestive that the retained medulloblasts giving rise to the tumor are similar to those of the external granular layer of the cerebellum, acting as true cell rests.
The medulloblastoma is a midline, cerebellar tumor. According to the writer, the question of the presence of a rare case of cerebral medulloblastoma is not settled. There may be some relationship of medulloblastoma to the neuroectodermal tumors such as neuroblastoma or oligodendroglioma. It may also shade into the group of rare intracranial sarcomas. The classification is not agreed upon at present; hence, statistics