[The usefulness of the polymerase chain reaction (PCR) in research and clinical diagnosis in pediatrics].

Recent advances in molecular biology for the first time make possible the widespread application of this science for the diagnosis and clinical investigation of pediatric disease. One very important discovery has been the development of the polymerase chain reaction. This technique allows for the exponential amplification of specific DNA sequences producing quantities sufficient for the molecular diagnosis of a wide variety of diseases. We review some of the fundamental aspects of this technique as well as some of its most promising applications in the field of pediatrics.