Diagnostic biomarkers are indispensable in oncology for identifying tumours and ascertaining their type, a prognostic indication of their aggressiveness, or the speed at which they are growing as well as helping to evaluate their potential for drug therapies and ongoing treatement. In the case of solid tumors, biopsies enable the clinician to get hold of cellular or molecular material to analyse tumors and obtain the valuable data needed by the clinican. Nevertheless, it is not always easy to carry out intratumoral biopsies, either because access to the tumor is restricted, or because the biopsy would result in an over invasive procedure.

In the case of the endocrinological Cushing pathology, which is due to a hypophyseal adenoma secreting adrenocorticotropine, the molecular explorations realized on hypophyseal biopsies can help in the characterisation and identification of tumoral tissue. The surgical instrument which has been developed, enables the  implementation of  hypophyseal micro-biopsies to enable molecular biomarker analyses.