Cytogenetics of soft tissue tumours

Recent cytogenetic and molecular genetic investigations in soft tissue rumours have provided us with new insights concerning the mechanisms underlying malignant transformation in mesenchymal tissues. Moreover, some soft tissue rumours now also have a genetic identity, represented by specific chromosome aberrations and by molecular changes related to these chromosome anomalies. Such genomic changes, when evaluated in context with morphology, represent an extremely valuable diagnostic aid to the pathologist. In the future, cytogenetics is bound to play an important diagnostic role, particularly when dealing with lesions showing a borderline morphology as well as with the group of small round cell paediatric malignancies. Moreover, as has been the case for N-myc amplification in neuroblastoma, the existence of a possible prognostic significance of genetic aberrations should be further explored.