Molecular Diagnostics

Unlocking the Future of Healthcare: Enroll in Our Comprehensive Molecular Diagnostics

This textbook presents the current (and near-future) state of affairs of molecular testing as it pertains to the dermatology patient. It focuses on practical applications of molecular diagnostics over a cross-section of dermatologic disease, including melanoma, lymphoma, soft tissue tumors, genodermatoses, and infectious disease. It includes practical advice to those ordering molecular tests as well as to those considering performing such tests, providing a potential template for a comprehensive dermatologic molecular diagnostics test menu. Pitfalls of interpretation and algorithmic approaches to testing are included. The textbook is directed towards all readers – clinicians, pathologists, laboratorians, and other inquisitive minds – independent of their level of molecular expertise, to provoke thought or perhaps even change practice.

Molecular diagnostics are increasingly used to help guide targeted therapy in solid organ tumors and hematologic malignancies. A large proportion of molecular testing is performed on limited-volume samples obtained via minimally invasive techniques, such as fine needle aspiration. Increasingly, cytopathologists play an essential role in this process, both in the triage of specimens during rapid on-site evaluation and in the evaluation of archival samples to determine suitability for ancillary testing. Therefore, it is imperative that practicing cytopathologists stay abreast of up-to-date diagnostic, prognostic, and predictive ancillary tests that can be used on limited cytologic material. This is a challenge since the landscape of known genomic alterations is constantly evolving and the subsequent set of testing options is ever expanding.