Multiple myeloma is a plasma cell disorder characterized at the cytogenetic level by aneuploid karyotypes with numerous complex structural aberrations. Unfortunately, conventional chromosome-banding techniques are unable to resolve many of these aberrations. Multicolor Spectral Karyotyping (SKY) is a molecular cytogenetic technique that utilizes chromosomepainting probes for characterizing complex structural chromosome aberrations. This innovative technology allows the simultaneous display of each of the 24 different chromosomes in a different color. Chromosomal sites of rearrangement or translocation between different chromosomes are visualized by a change in the color at the point of the aberration. The SKY technique makes possible the identification of chromosomal bands of unknown origin, including translocations, insertions, complex rearrangements, and marker chromosomes, which, in many cases, go unresolved by traditional banding methods.
