Test Details: The somatic mutation cancer hotspot panel is a multiplex next generation sequencing assay, designed to identify common, clinically actionable genomic alterations in most solid tumour samples. These panels provide a personalised understanding of a patient's tumour. Somatic testing is also known as tumor testing or tumor sequencing. Where germline mutations are in every cell in the body and have been there since birth, somatic genetic testing will examine a piece of tissue or tumor taken through a biopsy or surgery and look for mutations that have occurred spontaneously. The frequency of somatic mutations in cancer can be interpreted to represent the compatibility of gene mutations with cellular viability.