Molecular Pathology, An Issue of Clinics in Laboratory Medicine

Book excerpt: Molecular pathology has significantly matured over the past decade to establish itself as a discipline in its own right. Patient diagnosis, prognosis, management and care have been influenced by molecular pathology testing algorithms on a global scale. Whether it pertains to carrier status of deleterious genes, diagnosis by molecular techniques, assessment of appropriate remission post treatment, parentage or forensics testing – molecular pathology continues to increase its presence and influence in the diagnostic laboratory armamentarium. Furthermore, intellectualization and proprietization of molecular pathology with respect to the discovery of new genes and or new techniques continues to pose new challenges of test ownership, legalities, liabilities, widespread acceptance and utility. This issue of Laboratory Clinics seeks to provide selective state of the art understanding of molecular pathology with respect to its relationship to key pathology disciplines as well as the current challenges and promise for the future.