Oncology And Chimerism
Overview
Paediatric cancer genetic testing is a vital tool, used to identify the cause of the cancer, the type of cancer, help direct the best course of treatment, and to monitor disease progression and the efficacy of treatment. Chimerism genetic testing is used to monitor the success of blood stem cell transplantation (like bone marrow transplantation).
Category
Cost
Billing is to the referring hospital or Medicare.
Contacts
Vida Petrovic and Jackie Challis
Phone (03) 8341 6280
Specimen Requirements
Chromosomes/microarray/FISH
Bone marrow: Sodium heparin
Blood: Lithium heparin (blood only where circulating blasts >2.5x10-6/ml):
Less than 12 months of age: 1ml
Greater than 12 months: 1-5ml
Tumour biopsy:
Chromosomes - Fresh tissue
Microarray - Fresh or frozen tissue
FISH - Tumour imprint slides
Chimerism testing:
EDTA blood or bone marrow:
Less than 12 months of age: 1ml
Greater than 12 months: 5ml
For Chimerism analysis we require a pre transplant genotyping workup:
This requires samples from the pre transplant recipient and donor and;
samples from the post transplant recipient.
Flow sorted chimerism testing must be booked a week in advance.
Notes
Blood can replace bone marrow where there is greater than 2.5x10-6 circulating blasts per ml