Many cancers are driven by chromosomal abnormalities — translocations, deletions, or amplifications. Karyotyping and FISH are used to diagnose, classify, and monitor these cancers. The karyotyping market research study shows that cancer diagnostics holds the largest share, driven by the rising incidence of leukaemias, lymphomas, and solid tumours.

What's tested? The Philadelphia chromosome (BCR‑ABL) in CML, MYC rearrangements in Burkitt lymphoma, and HER2 amplification in breast cancer. The karyotyping market trends highlight that the fastest‑growing technique is FISH, because it's rapid and can be done on paraffin‑embedded tissue.

But karyotyping is labour‑intensive and requires living cells. That's why many labs send out cytogenetics to reference labs.

The bottom line: if you have a blood cancer, karyotyping and FISH are essential for prognosis and treatment. Ask your oncologist if these tests have been done.