Fluorescence in Situ Hybridization (FISH) for Differential Diagnosis of Soft Tissue Sarcomas

Introduction: Soft tissue sarcomas are rare tumors comprising 1 percent of solid malignancies. The latest edition of WHO soft tissue pathology lists 94 benign and malignant soft tissue tumors. Many of these show a large degree of morphological overlap. Immunohistochemistry has been shown to be reliable in many cases for differential diagnosis of lesions, although cytogenetic tests are considered the gold standard for many entities.Fluorescence in-situ hybridization (FISH) is a cytogenetic technique that uses fluorescent probes that bind to only those parts of the chromosome which have a high degree of sequence complementarity. Many soft tissue tumors show recurrent genetic mutations that are now being used as diagnostic markers. Knowledge of the molecular identity allows prediction of behavior, prognosis and treatment response.