- To investigate whether statistical classification tools can infer the correct World Health Organization (WHO) grade from standardized histologic features in astrocytomas and how these tools compare with GRADO-IGL, an earlier computer-assisted method. A total of 794 human brain astrocytomas were studied between January 1976 and June 2005. The presence of 50 histologic features was rated in 4 categories from 0 (not present) to 3 (abundant) by visual inspection of the sections under a microscope. All tumors were also classified with the corresponding WHO grade between I and IV. We tested the prediction performance of several statistical classification tools (learning vector quantization [LVQ], supervised relevance neural gas [SRNG], support vector machines [SVM], and generalized regression neural network [GRNN]) for this data set. The WHO grade was predicted correctly from histologic features in close to 80% of the cases by 2 modern classifiers (SRNG and SVM), and GRADO-IGL was predicted correctly in > 84% of the cases by a GRNN. A standardized report, based the 50 histologic features, can be used in conjunction with modern classification tools as an objective and reproducible method for histologic grading of astrocytomas.