Basic Concepts in Molecular Cytogenetics of Soft Tissue Tumors for the Clinician

Over the past several years, cytogenetic and molecular analyses have played a growing adjunct role in the clinicopathological evaluation of soft tissue tumors. Recent technological advances, especially in fluorescence in situ hybridization and polymerase chain reaction, have enabled the analysis of frozen and paraffin-embedded tissue as well as fresh tumor samples. Many characteristic genetic abnormalities have been identified that are of diagnostic utility in the analysis of soft tissue tumors. Additionally, certain genetic aberrations have been found to be of potential prognostic value. With the abundance of useful tools that are available, molecular cytogenetic analyses are likely to become an integral part of the analysis of soft tissue tumors. These analyses can be performed readily using small amounts of tumor (e.g., from sonographically or computed tomographic guided percutaneous biopsy specimens).