Covid Testing

Genetic Testing

Genetic testing looks at your genes. Based on your DNA, testing can provide information that can help to diagnose disease, determine the severity of a disease, guide doctors on treatment options, and more.

Procedure

There are many types of genetic testing.
• Diagnostic testing is used to identify a disease making you ill.
• Predictive and pre-symptomatic testing is used to find gene changes that increase your likelihood of developing a disease.
• Carrier testing is used to find those who “carry” a change in a gene that is linked to disease, While carriers may show no signs of a disease, they have the ability to pass on the gene change to their children, who could develop the disease or become carriers themselves.
• Prenatal testing is done during pregnancy to help identify fetuses that have certain conditions.
• Newborn screening is used to test babies one or two days after birth to find out if they have certain diseases known to cause problems with health and development.
• Pharmacogenomic testing is used to determine how certain medicines are processed by an individual’s body.

Benefits

Genetic testing can be beneficial whether the test identifies a condition or not. The test can eliminate uncertainty surrounding your health if it turns out a condition isn’t present. If a condition is detected, the test can also help doctors make recommendations for treatment or additional steps, and help you make informed choices about your future.

FAQs

There are many reasons why you might get genetic testing. Doctors may suggest it if patients or their families have certain patterns of disease.

While genetic testing can provide important information regarding your health, it can also be scary to learn that you or a family member has or is at risk for a disease. Genetic testing also does not tell you everything about inherited diseases; for example, a positive result does not mean you will develop the disease, and you won’t know how severe symptoms may be.