Introduction

Recurring chromosomal abnormalities are involved in the pathogenesis of hematologic malignancies and are important indicators for their diagnosis and prognosis. The methods used to detect the genetic changes in hematologic malignancies include:

(a) conventional cytogenetics (karyotyping on cells derived from direct preparations or short-term cultures using banding analysis; G-banding)

(b) molecular cytogenetics, e.g. fluorescence in situ hybridization (FISH), multicolor FISH, and spectral karyotyping (SKY)

(c) molecular techniques to analyze DNA, RNA, or proteins directly, e.g. the polymerase chain reaction (PCR), reverse transcriptase PCR (RT-PCR), quantitative real-time RT-PCR (RQ-PCR; qRTPCR), Southern blotting, and microarray analysis.