The Precision in Pediatric Sequencing (PIPseq) Program at Columbia University Medical Center released data on its first 100 patients, which shows that integrating clinical next-generation sequencing (NGS) into pediatric hematologyoncology practice is feasible and has "broad" clinical utility. According to the study published Dec. 23, 2016 in Genome Medicine, genomically informed data impacts diagnosis and prognosis, as well as treatment and other significant health maintenance decisions. "While we used a variety of analytical approaches matched to the clinical indications, we primarily utilized a combination of tumor/normal WES and tumor RNA-seq." —Andrew Kung, M.D., Ph.D. The PIPseq program was initiated in 2014 to prospectively integrate NGS into clinical decision making for high-risk pediatric cancer patients. (High-risk patients had a prognosis of less than 50 percent five-year survival, rare cancer without standard of care therapy, suspected cancer predisposition, or relapsed disease.) High-risk patients account for about onethird of the total clinical practice. The first 101 consecutive participants (mean age, 9.3 years) had a total of 120 samples sequenced between January 2014 and April 2016. Results were initially reviewed by a molecular pathologist and then by a multi-disciplinary molecular tumor board. Clinical reports were issued to the ordering physician and posted to the […]