ABSTRACT
The growing knowledge of the human genome has expanded our understanding of chromosomal aberrations that can be important for diagnosis, prediction of clinical outcome, and response to therapy of human neoplasms. Fluorescence in situ hybridization (FISH) represents a sensitive and specific technique for the detection of genomic (chromosome-and gene-specific) alterations in non-dividing (interphase) cells. FISH performed on cytology material has been shown to represent a promising approach to improved cancer detection, and its value as a source of diagnostic and prognostic information will undoubtedly grow in the near future. Because most protocols often require time-consuming or technically demanding preparation of slides for FISH, the utilization of routinely processed liquid-based preparations for this analysis significantly facilitates the incorporation of FISH in the diagnostic algorithms in contemporary cytology. This chapter provides a detailed discussion of
the protocol, including cell conditioning, pretreatment, and hybridization for freshly prepared and archival slides prepared by a liquid-based thin-layer technique.
