Clinical test

Consultants

Preventive and personalised medicine

At HC Marbella we see four main reasons why genetic testing should be done:

Diagnostic purposes

The purpose of a diagnostic genetic analysis is to diagnose an illness in a person who already presents symptoms. The result of the analysis may help doctors and patients make decisions about the management and treatment of health problems. It can also help solve an uncertain diagnosis, so patients know what disease they are suffering from.

Predictive purposes

Predictive genetic analyses are performed in individuals that do not present any symptoms of disease. In most cases the test only provides an indication of the risk of developing the disease, but it is not an accurate predictive test since environmental factors also play an important role. These predictive tests are known as genetic susceptibility tests.

Hereditary purposes

The genetic analyses of carriers are used to identify individuals who are carriers of an abnormal allele of a gene that is associated with a specific disease (for example, cystic fibrosis). Carriers may not display any symptoms of disease. However, there is a risk that offspring may be affected.

Therapeutic purposes

Pharmacogenetic analyses are carried out to determine an individual’s sensitivity to a specific therapy. For example, some individuals may need a higher dose of a medication, while others may have adverse reactions to certain medications.