FDA Relabels Warfarin, Recommends Genetic Testing
With the FDA’s recent relabeling of warfarin, the real clinical challenge in determining appropriate dosage is understanding which genetic warfarin dosing panel to order. There are different tests in application. It is important to order a test that takes into account all of the ethnic variants in the sequence. This is a critical point for [...]
Warfarin Dosing and Personalized Medicine
Right out of medical school, while I was studying for my board exams, I took a job at a hospital laboratory in the Ballard district of Seattle. After proving myself by getting blood out of the needle addicts on the top floor I was shipped down to the outpatient lab. During the day the waiting [...]
Genetic Discrimination Bill Waits In Senate
The U.S. House of Representatives passed the Genetic Information Nondiscrimination Act (GINA) in April of 2007. The Senate version of GINA (S.358) is still in process.
The Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) of 1996 was the first federal protection against genetic discrimination. The act prohibited health insurers from excluding individuals from group coverage due [...]
Genetic Predisposition vs. Disease Acquisition
Many patients ask me: Does having a gene that predisposes you for a particular disease mean that you will get the disease? The simple answer is no, having a risk factor does not mean that you have a particular disease or that you will necessarily develop it.
To illustrate this point, this summer scientists published studies [...]
Multiple Sclerosis Risk Passed Equally By Both Parents?
Many genetic diseases have gendered predispositions. Multiple Sclerosis (MS) is one of these sex-linked diseases where women are affected about twice as often as men. The “Carter effect” dictates that in these diseases one can expect that offspring of the less effected gender (males in the case of MS) might be more likely to develop [...]
Genetics Determine Effectiveness of Smoking Cessation Drugs
Smoking is considered one of the hardest addictions to break. Ever wonder why some people have an easier time kicking the habit than others? One answer comes from research in a new field of medical research called pharmacogenomics from the National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA). Read press release here.
This research indicates that [...]
