Droplet digital PCR for detection of mutation in formalin-fixed, paraffin-embedded melanoma tissues: a comparison with Cobas 4800, Sanger sequencing, and allele-specific PCR.

Cutaneous melanoma has the worst prognosis of all skin cancers. Although emerging targeted therapies, such as B-Raf kinase inhibitor vemurafenib, improve prognosis they require an accurate and sensitive means of detecting the pathogenic mutation. We compared the sensitivity of four detection methods in formalin-fixed, paraffin-embedded melanoma biopsies from 87 consecutive melanoma patients with Breslow stage I-V disease (staging based on the depth of tumor of invasion).