Tumor cytogenetics is an essential tool for diagnosis and prognosis differentiation, especially in malignancies of the peripheral blood. As metaphase spreads are sometimes difficult to obtain in leukemia and lymphoma preparations, interphase cytogenetics is currently the method of choice in this regard. To save time and/or to obtain additional information on the cytogenetic status of a malignant disease, interphase nuclei from peripheral blood or bone marrow can be prepared directly, or a blood or bone marrow smear can be made on a slide. Several protocols that allow such direct preparation are presented here.
