Molecular Melanoma Diagnosis Update: Gene Fusion, Genomic Hybridization, and Massively Parallel Short-Read Sequencing

Molecular evaluation of melanocytic tumors can be diagnostically useful to confirm malignancy or benignancy. Molecular tools are ancillary and supplemental to histopathologic evaluation and do not replace conventional microscopy. Immunohistochemistry, fluorescence in situ hybridization, array comparative genomic hybridization, and massively parallel short-read sequencing, often referred to as next-generation sequencing, each provide varied (and often incomplete) additional information, and careful planning is necessary if tissue is limited.