A method of measuring telomere length in a formalin-fixed paraffin embedded tissue comprising: (a) extracting the target telomeric nucleic acid from the formalin-fixed, paraffin embedded tissue using a mild extraction method which does not isolate the DNA fragments on a column and which retains a majority of the telomeric target nucleic acid fragments that are at least 50 bp, (b) combining in a polymerase chain reaction the extracted target telomeric nucleic acid from step (a) comprising substantially complementary first and second strands, a first telomeric primer wherein the first telomeric primer is capable of hybridizing to the first strand of the target telomeric nucleic acid and being extended by DNA polymerase to form an extended telomeric primer, and a second telomeric primer wherein the second telomeric primer is capable of hybridizing to the extended first telomeric primer and being extended by DNA polymerase but is not capable of hybridizing to the target telomeric nucleic acid and being extended by DNA polymerase, (c) heating the polymerase chain reaction to a sufficient temperature to generate single nucleic acid strand and reducing the temperature to a temperature from 49°C to 60°C to allow the primers to hybridize to their targets and be extended, (d) repeating step (c) for at least 4 cycles, (e) heating the polymerase chain reaction to a sufficient temperature to generate single stranded nucleic acid strand and reducing the temperature from 55°C to 65°C to allow the primers to hybridize to their targets and be extended for a further 20 to 40 cycles, (f) identifying the replication cycle at which the threshold PCR signal is passed, and (g) determining the average telomere length. (a) extracting the target telomeric nucleic acid from the formalin-fixed, paraffin embedded tissue using a mild extraction method which does not isolate the DNA fragments on a column and which retains a majority of the telomeric target nucleic acid fragments that are at least 50 bp, (b) combining in a polymerase chain reaction the extracted target telomeric nucleic acid from step (a) comprising substantially complementary first and second strands, a first telomeric primer wherein the first telomeric primer is capable of hybridizing to the first strand of the target telomeric nucleic acid and being extended by DNA polymerase to form an extended telomeric primer, and a second telomeric primer wherein the second telomeric primer is capable of hybridizing to the extended first telomeric primer and being extended by DNA polymerase but is not capable of hybridizing to the target telomeric nucleic acid and being extended by DNA polymerase, (c) heating the polymerase chain reaction to a sufficient temperature to generate single nucleic acid strand and reducing the temperature to a temperature from 49°C to 60°C to allow the primers to hybridize to their targets and be extended, (d) repeating step (c) for at least 4 cycles, (e) heating the polymerase chain reaction to a sufficient temperature to generate single stranded nucleic acid strand and reducing the temperature from 55°C to 65°C to allow the primers to hybridize to their targets and be extended for a further 20 to 40 cycles, (f) identifying the replication cycle at which the threshold PCR signal is passed, and (g) determining the average telomere length.