The use of molecular diagnostics in routine diagnostic tumor neuropathology has evolved rapidly over the last decade, with the expansion from essentially one common clinically established assay (1p/19q testing) to a growing armamentarium of useful tests (4). Although this has brought about exciting changes in the way we approach common central nervous system (CNS) tumors, it has also posed considerable challenges for diagnostic laboratories as they address technical, financial and staffing issues. This has resulted in marked inter-institutional variability in their handling of molecular diagnostics in terms of assay availability, which technologies are applied, what is handled in-house versus send out, what criteria are used for the implementation of each test and how they are interpreted. The current mini-symposium provides an update of the most currently useful molecular diagnostic assays, the data justifying their clinical applications and answers to common practical questions, such as the advantages and limitations of various methodologies for laboratory testing.
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