Introduction
Pharmacogenomic reports contain a lot of useful information. Sometimes there is so much information the report can seem overwhelming. To overcome this issue and to increase the clarity of the results for both healthcare providers and patients, the GeneSight test employs a user-friendly software-based product to report the results in an easy-to-read way. The GeneSight report categorizes medications into intuitive, color-coded categories based on an individual’s genetic results. These include the green “Use as Directed,” yellow “Moderate Gene-Drug Interaction,” and red “Significant Gene-Drug Interaction” categories.
What are clinical considerations and what is their clinical significance?
All medications start out in the green category on the GeneSight test. Based on an individual’s genetic variation, a medication may be moved out of this category, and into the yellow or red category, depending on how significantly the variation is expected to impact response. When this happens, the medication is labeled with one or more of the ten possible clinical considerations, which can help guide treatment decisions and provide information about how medications affected by genetic variation might be best used.
How do I interpret each clinical consideration?
CLINICAL CONSIDERATIONS:
2: Serum level may be too low, higher doses may be required.
3: Difficult to predict dose adjustments due to conflicting variations in metabolism.
9: Per FDA label, this medication is contraindicated for this genotype.
Conclusions
Clinical considerations provide valuable information about why a medication does not fall in the green category. Healthcare providers can rely on these to help them think about how to potentially use a medication that is affected by genetic variation. Clinical considerations can also be used to help guide discussions with patients about treatment decisions.
References
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