Tissue Versus Liquid Biopsy: Opposite or Complementary?

Abstract

The main pillar of cancer diagnosis has been classically represented by the cyto-/histopathological analysis of cells and tissues. The detection of morphological features of cellular atypia (e.g., altered nuclear/cytoplasmic area ratio; nuclear dysmorphism) and disarranged hierarchical architecture of the tissue (i.e., dysplasia) are funding elements in the diagnosis of malignancies, yet the pieces of information conveyed by these features are often insufficient for the precise identification of a specific cancer histotype, and sometimes they prove faulty [1–6].