Gene rearrangement analysis plays an increasing important role in the diagnosis of lymphomas. The possibility of detecting immunoglobulin heavy chain gene rearrangement in formalin-fixed, paraffin-embedded tissues was examined.30 cases of lymphoid lesions,only 11 have been extracted with high molecular DNA which could be used in southern blot, and others showed DNA degradation in some degree.The degraded DNA could also be used in antigen receptor gene analysis after amplified by polymerase chain reaction. DNA analysis using paraffin-embedded tissues has potential clinical and research applications in detecting gene abnormalities in rare-and difficult cases of lymphomas in which fresh specimen was not available.