It is well recognised in haematological malignancies and solid tumours, that a number of recurrent chromosomal abnormalities have independent prognostic importance (Ferrando and Look, 2000; Misra et al, 2000; Mrozek et al, 2000; Taylor et al, 2000; Mrozek et al, 2001) and, in particular, amplification of N-MYC is known to be associated with adverse outcome in childhood neuroblastoma (George et al, 2001; Lastowska et al, 2001). Here, MYCN is linked to neuroblastoma.