A significant proportion of leukemias and lymphomas have rearrangements of either the immunoglobulin heavy chain or the T cell receptor. In addition, the majority of follicular lymphomas have a detectable bcl-2/immunoglobulin heavy chain fusion gene from t(14;18). We use PCR as the preliminary means by which to detect these abnormalities. PCR negative cases that are highly suspicious clinically are generally also analyzed for rearrangements by Southern Blot.

Because our Southern blot techniques are optimized, we have been successful in obtaining PCR and Southern blot results from paraffin embedded tissues in the majority of cases sent to our lab in consultation. This is a service that is not available in other molecular laboratories.