Skip to main content
. 2020 Jan 3;179(2):191–202. doi: 10.1007/s00431-019-03545-y

What is Known:

Liquid biopsies are finding their way into routine oncological screening, diagnosis, and disease monitoring in adult cancer types fast.

The most widely adopted source for liquid biopsies is blood although other easily accessible body fluids, such as saliva, pleural effusions, urine, or cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) can also serve as sources for liquid biopsies

What is New:

Retrospective proof-of-concept studies in small cohorts illustrate that liquid biopsies in pediatric solid tumors yield tremendous potential to be used in diagnostics, for therapy response monitoring and in residual disease detection.

Liquid biopsy diagnostics could tackle some long-standing issues in the pediatric oncology field; they can enable accurate genetic diagnostics in previously unbiopsied tumor types like renal tumors or brain stem tumors leading to better treatment strategies