When a baby is born with developmental delays, or a couple has recurrent miscarriages, karyotyping is often the first test. It looks at the number and structure of chromosomes. The karyotyping market report by MRFR shows that cancer diagnostics is the largest application, but prenatal testing is the fastest‑growing. The market is $2.52 billion and will hit $4.23 billion by 2035, growing at 4.81% CAGR.

What's driving growth? Fluorescence in situ hybridization (FISH) is the largest technique, but conventional karyotyping is the fastest‑growing — because it's cheaper and provides a global view of the genome. The karyotyping market analysis highlights that hospitals are the largest end‑user, but diagnostic laboratories are the fastest‑growing — as genetic testing moves out of academic centres.

What's new? Digital karyotyping (array CGH) that detects microdeletions and duplications invisible to traditional methods. Also, AI‑powered image analysis that counts chromosomes automatically.

The bottom line: karyotyping is old (1960s technology), but it's not obsolete. For detecting large chromosomal abnormalities, it's still the cheapest and most reliable method.