How Do We Make Clinical Molecular Testing for Cancer Standard of Care for Pathology Departments?

Abstract

Understanding of the genetic basis and molecular pathogenesis of cancer has evolved substantially over the past century. The advent of high-throughput gene sequencing methods has unraveled hundreds of recurrent somatic genetic alterations in various malignancies, either causative or harboring major prognostic and/or predictive implications. Knowledge of these specific changes has dramatically altered diagnostic and therapeutic approaches to cancer, enabling personalized molecular therapies. This article shares approaches to adopting and fine-tuning the practice of molecular diagnostics as an essential component of diagnostic pathology in a tertiary care cancer hospital and proposes methods by which genetic testing in cancer can become standard of care in pathology departments across the nation.