Diagnostic molecular pathology

The integration of molecular diagnostics into routine clinical practice has made a significant impact in the diagnosis and management of solid tumors. While morphologic evaluation by light microscopy remains the cornerstone of anatomic pathology diagnosis, an expanding list of ancillary techniques, including immunohistochemistry, cytogenetics, and molecular testing, has been incorporated into the clinical diagnosis, management, and selection of targeted therapy. The discovery of a variety of molecular markers through genomic profiling of solid tumors, together with correlating these biomarkers with histologic features and clinical response to therapy and patient survival, has allowed the use of these molecular biomarkers for diagnostic, prognostic, predictive, and therapeutic purposes. The increased understanding of the molecular mechanisms underlying solid organ malignancies together with the advances in technology have contributed to the rapid growth in clinical molecular testing and their implementation in diagnosis, therapy selection, and cancer screening.