In reported cases of the tumor over the last 25 years, the number of affected females with astroblastoma is significantly higher than the number of affected males. Sughrue et al. confirmed this trend, stating that 70% of the cases with clearly stated gender were female (100 cases total). While several publications support a genetic predisposition to females, the underlying reasons are still unknown.

At this point, no literature has indicated whether environmental factors increase the likelihood of astroblastoma. Although cancer in general is caused by a variety of external factors, including carcinogens, dangerous chemicals, and viral infections, astroblastoma research has not even attempted to classify incidence in this regard. The next few decades will aid in this understanding.

According to a Dutch source juvenile pilocytic astrocytoma occurs at a rate of 2 in 100,000 people. Most affected are children ages 5–14 years. According to the National Cancer Institute more than 80% of astrocytomas located in the cerebellum are low grade (pilocytic grade I) and often cystic; most of the remainder are diffuse grade II astrocytomas.

Tumors of the optic pathway account for 3.6-6% of pediatric brain tumors, 60% of which are juvenile pilocytic astrocytomas. Astrocytomas account for 50% of pediatric primary central nervous system tumors. About 80-85% of cerebellar astrocytomas are juvenile pilocytic astrocytomas.

Recent genetic studies of pilocytic astrocytomas show that some sporadic cases have gain in chromosome 7q34 involving the BRAF locus.

The majority of patients can be expected to be cured of their disease and become long-term survivors of central neurocytoma. As with any other type of tumor, there is a chance for recurrence. The chance of recurrence is approximately 20%. Some factors that predict tumor recurrence and death due to progressive states of disease are high proliferative indices, early disease recurrence, and disseminated disease with or without the spread of disease through the cerebral spinal fluid. Long-term follow up examinations are essential for the evaluation of the outcomes that each treatment brings about. It is also essential to identify possible recurrence of CN. It is recommended that a cranial MRI is performed between every 6–12 months.

Hemangioblastomas can cause polycythemia due to ectopic production of erythropoietin as a paraneoplastic syndrome.

Choroid plexus tumors have an annual incidence of about 0.3 per 1 million cases.

It is seen mainly in children under the age of 5, representing 5% of all pediatric tumors and 20% of tumors in children less than 1 year old. There has been no link between sex and occurrence.

Although choroid plexus carcinomas are significantly more aggressive and have half the survival rate as choroid plexus papillomas, they are outnumbered in incidence by 5:1 in all age groups. Clinical studies have shown that patients who receive a total resection of a tumor have a 86% survival rate, while patients who only receive a partial resection have a 26% 5-year survival rate. Many incomplete resections result in recurrence within 2 years of primary surgery.

An estimated 3% of pediatric brain tumors are AT/RTs, although this percentage may increase with better differentiation between PNET/medulloblastoma tumors and AT/RTs.

As with other CNS tumors, more males are affected than females (ratio 1.6:1). The ASCO study showed a 1.4:1 male to female ratio.

Papillary tumors of pineal region are extremely rare, constituting 0.4-1% of all central nervous system tumors. These tumors most commonly occur in adults with the mean age being 31.5. There have been cases reported for people between the ages 5 to 66 years. There is a slight predominance of females who have these tumors.

For low-grade tumors, the prognosis is somewhat more optimistic. Patients diagnosed with a low-grade glioma are 17 times as likely to die as matched patients in the general population.

The age-standardized 10-year relative survival rate was 47%. One study reported that low-grade oligodendroglioma patients have a median survival of 11.6 years; another reported a median survival of 16.7 years.

Metastatic spread is noted in roughly one-third of the AT/RT cases at the time of diagnosis, and tumors can occur anywhere throughout the CNS. The ASCO study of the 188 documented AT/RT cases prior to 2004 found 30% of the cases had metastasis at diagnosis. Metastatic spread to the meninges (leptomenigeal spread sometimes referred to as sugar coating) is common both initially and with relapse. Average survival times decline with the presence of metastasis. Primary CNS tumors generally metastasize only within the CNS.

One case of metastatic disease to the abdomen via ventriculoperitoneal shunt has been reported with AT/RT . Metastatic dissemination via this mechanism has been reported with other brain tumors, including germinomas, medulloblastomas, astrocytomas, glioblastomas, ependymomas, and endodermal sinus tumors. Guler and Sugita separately reported cases of lung metastasis without a shunt.

In the United States, the annual incidence of chordoma is approximately 1 in one million (300 new patients each year).

There are currently no known environmental risk factors for chordoma. As noted above germline duplication of brachyury has been identified as a major susceptibility mechanism in several chordoma families.

While most people with chordoma have no other family members with the disease, rare occurrences of multiple cases within families have been documented. This suggests that some people may be genetically predisposed to develop chordoma. Because genetic or hereditary risk factors for chordoma may exist, scientists at the National Cancer Institute are conducting a Familial Chordoma Study to search for genes involved in the development of this tumor.

The cause of choroid plexus carcinomas are relatively unknown, although hereditary factors are suspected. The sometimes occur in conjunction with other hereditary cancers, including Li–Fraumeni syndrome and malignant rhabdoid tumors. A mutation in the tumor suppressor gene TP53 is usually characterized in this disease.

Gliomas are rarely curable. The prognosis for patients with high-grade gliomas is generally poor, and is especially so for older patients. Of 10,000 Americans diagnosed each year with malignant gliomas, about half are alive one year after diagnosis, and 25% after two years. Those with anaplastic astrocytoma survive about three years. Glioblastoma multiforme has a worse prognosis with less than a 12-month average survival after diagnosis, though this has extended to 14 months with more recent treatments.

Esthesioneuroblastoma is a slow developing but malignant tumor with high reoccurrence rates because of its anatomical position. The tumor composition, location and metastatic characteristics as well as the treatment plan determine prognosis. Common clinical classification systems for esthesioneuroblastoma include the Kadish classification and the Dulguerov classfictation. Histopathological characteristics on top of Kadish classification can further determine cancer prognosis. In severe, Kadish class C tumors, Haym's grades of pathology are important for prognosis. Patients with low grade Kadish class C tumors have a 10-year survival rate of 86 percent compared to patients with high grade class C tumors who have a survival rate of 28 percent. Surgically treated patients with high grade tumors are more likely to experience leptomeningeal metastases or involvement of the cerebral spinal fluid unlike patients with low grade tumors who usually only see local recurrence. Survival rates for treated esthesioneuroblastoma are best for surgery with radiotherapy (65%), then for radiotherapy and chemotherapy (51%), just surgery (48%), surgery, radiotherapy and chemotherapy (47) and finally just radiotherapy (37%). From the literature, radiotherapy and surgery seem to boast the best outcome for patients. However, it is important to understand that to some degree, prognosis is related to tumor severity. More progressed, higher grade tumors would result in chemotherapy or radiotherapy as the only treatment. It is no surprise that the prognosis would be worse in these cases.

Brain, other CNS or intracranial tumors are the ninth most common cancer in the UK (around 10,600 people were diagnosed in 2013), and it is the eighth most common cause of cancer death (around 5,200 people died in 2012).

The outcome for hemangioblastoma is very good, if surgical extraction of the tumor can be achieved; excision is possible in most cases and permanent neurologic deficit is uncommon and can be avoided altogether if the tumor is diagnosed and treated early. Persons with VHL syndrome have a bleaker prognosis than those who have sporadic tumors since those with VHL syndrome usually have more than one lesion.

Grade I pilocytic astrocytoma and cerebellar gliomas are not associated with recurrence after complete resection. Grade II astrocytomas and cerebellar gliomas are more likely to recur after surgical removal. Pilomyxoid astrocytomas may behave more aggressively than classic pilocytic astrocytoma.

After complete surgical removal, in cases of progressive/recurrent disease or when maximal surgical removal has been achieved, chemotherapy and/or radiation therapy will be considered by the medical team.

Use of telomerase inhibitors such as Imetelstat seem to have very low toxicity compared to other chemotherapy. The only known side effect of most telomerase inhibitors is dose-induced neutropenia. Neuropsychological deficits can result from resection, chemotherapy, and radiation, as well as endocrinopathies. Additionally, an increase in gastrointestinal complications has been observed in survivors of pediatric cancers.

The 5-year disease-free survival for age >5 years is 50-60%. Another report found a similar 5-year survival at about 65% with 51% progression-free survival. The 10-year disease-free survival is 40-50%. Younger ages showed lower 5 and 10-year survival rates. A 2006 study that observed 133 patients found 31 (23.3%) had a recurrence of the disease within a five-year period.

A nervous system neoplasm is a tumor affecting the nervous system. Types include:

- Nerve sheath tumor

- Brain tumor

- Arachnoid cyst

- Optic nerve glioma

The Kadish classification is used for clinical classification of sinonasal tumors including esthesioneuroblastoma. Subsequent research articles have been published to determine prognosis based on tumor grade.

Dulguerov Classification

Between 20% and 50% of high-risk cases do not respond adequately to induction high-dose chemotherapy and are progressive or refractory. Relapse after completion of frontline therapy is also common. Further treatment is available in phase I and phase II clinical trials that test new agents and combinations of agents against neuroblastoma, but the outcome remains very poor for relapsed high-risk disease.

Most long-term survivors alive today had low or intermediate risk disease and milder courses of treatment compared to high-risk disease. The majority of survivors have long-term effects from the treatment. Survivors of intermediate and high-risk treatment often experience hearing loss. Growth reduction, thyroid function disorders, learning difficulties, and greater risk of secondary cancers affect survivors of high-risk disease. An estimated two of three survivors of childhood cancer will ultimately develop at least one chronic and sometimes life-threatening health problem within 20 to 30 years after the cancer diagnosis.

Ependymomas make up about 5% of adult intracranial gliomas and up to 10% of childhood tumors of the central nervous system (CNS). Their occurrence seems to peak at age 5 years and then again at age 35. They develop from cells that line both the hollow cavities of the brain and the canal containing the spinal cord, but they usually arise from the floor of the fourth ventricle, situated in the lower back portion of the brain, where they may produce headache, nausea and vomiting by obstructing the flow of cerebrospinal fluid. This obstruction may also cause hydrocephalus. They may also arise in the spinal cord, conus medullaris and supratentorial locations. Other symptoms can include (but are not limited to): loss of appetite, difficulty sleeping, temporary inability to distinguish colors, uncontrollable twitching, seeing vertical or horizontal lines when in bright light, and temporary memory loss. It should be remembered that these symptoms also are prevalent in many other illnesses not associated with ependymoma.

About 10% of ependymomas are benign myxopapillary ependymoma (MPE). MPE is a localized and slow-growing low-grade tumor, which originates almost exclusively from the lumbosacral nervous tissue of young patients. On the other hand, it is the most common tumor of the lumbosacral canal comprising about 90% of all tumoral lesions in this region.

Although some ependymomas are of a more anaplastic and malignant type, most of them are not anaplastic. Well-differentiated ependymomas are usually treated with surgery. For other ependymomas, total surgical removal is the preferred treatment in addition to radiation therapy. The malignant (anaplastic) varieties of this tumor, malignant ependymoma and the ependymoblastoma, are treated similarly to medulloblastoma but the prognosis is much less favorable. Malignant ependymomas may be treated with a combination of radiation therapy and chemotherapy. Ependymoblastomas, which occur in infants and children younger than 5 years of age, may spread through the cerebrospinal fluid and usually require radiation therapy. The subependymoma, a variant of the ependymoma, is apt to arise in the fourth ventricle but may occur in the septum pellucidum and the cervical spinal cord. It usually affects people over 40 years of age and more often affects men than women.

Extraspinal ependymoma (EEP), also known as extradural ependymoma, may be an unusual form of teratoma or may be confused with a sacrococcygeal teratoma.

There are no precise guidelines because the exact cause of astrocytoma is not known.

Neuroblastoma comprises 6–10% of all childhood cancers, and 15% of cancer deaths in children. The annual mortality rate is 10 per million children in the 0- to 4-year-old age group, and 4 per million in the 4- to 9-year old age group.

The highest incidence is in the first year of life, and some cases are congenital. The age range is broad, including older children and adults, but only 10% of cases occur in people older than 5 years of age. A large European study reported less than 2% of over 4000 neuroblastoma cases were over 18 years old.