clinically. These results demonstrate that conventional CGH is a reliable technique in detecting structural aberrations and, in specific cases, may be more efficient in diagnosing complex abnormalities. Array CGH Array CGH applications are mainly directed at detecting genomic abnormalities in cancer. However, array CGH is also suitable for the analysis of DNA copy number aberrations that cause human genetic disorders. That is, array CGH is employed to uncover deletions, amplifications, breakpoints and ploidy abnormalities. Earlier diagnosis is of benefit to the patient as they may undergo appropriate treatments and counseling to improve their prognosis. Genomic abnormalities in cancer Genetic alterations and rearrangements occur frequently in cancer and contribute to its pathogenesis. Detecting these aberrations by array CGH provides information on the locations of important cancer genes and can have clinical use in diagnosis, cancer classification and prognostification. However, not all of the losses of genetic material are pathogenetic, since some DNA material is physiologically lost during the rearrangement of immunoglobulin subgenes. In a recent study, array CGH has been implemented to identify regions of chromosomal aberration (copy-number variation) in several mouse models of breast cancer, leading to identification of cooperating genes during myc-induced oncogenesis. Array CGH may also be applied not only to the discovery of chromosomal abnormalities in cancer, but also to the monitoring of the progression of tumors. Differentiation between metastatic and mild lesions is also possible using FISH once the abnormalities have been identified by array CGH. Submicroscopic aberrations Prader–Willi syndrome (PWS) is a paternal structural abnormality involving 15q11-13, while a maternal aberration in the same region causes Angelman syndrome (AS). In both syndromes, the majority of cases (75%) are the result of a 3–5 Mb deletion of the PWS/AS critical region. These small aberrations cannot be detected using cytogenetics or conventional CGH, but can be readily detected using array CGH. As a proof of principle Vissers et al. (2003) constructed a genome wide array with a 1 Mb resolution to screen three patients with known, FISH-confirmed microdeletion syndromes, including one with PWS. In all three cases, the abnormalities, ranging from 1.5 to 2.9Mb, were readily identified. Thus, array CGH was demonstrated to be a specific and sensitive approach in detecting submicroscopic aberrations. When using overlapping microarrays, it is also possible to uncover breakpoints involved in chromosomal aberrations. Prenatal genetic diagnosis Though not yet a widely employed technique, the use of array CGH as a tool for