Precision medicine is a model in medicine involving the division of patients into two categories; medical and genetic. This was a way to describe the medical and genetic history and therefore use the discoveries to come up with a drug tailored specifically for that genetic sequence (Juthe et al., 2015). Personalized medicine helps with future discoveries of genetically based diseases because once the detection has been made; it is then used to detect the same diseases by people with the same genetic sequence. They, therefore, can get medicine tailored for their specific diseases.
While tailoring drugs to suit an individual's genetic sequence dates back to Hippocrates, the practice has been overly applied since then to increase the practice and discover new diagnostic information and help treat the patients better. It also helps provide insight into the disease's molecular basis and a clear basis on how to group the patients. Doctors know that a certain drug may work for you but not for another patient with the same symptoms as you. This is because not all patients have the same genetic makeup. For example, a certain drug, imatinib (Gleevec), is used to treat patients with leukemia only when the cells have one genetic makeup. So instead of treating all leukemia patients with Gleevec, doctors test for that genetic sequence then give Gleevec to those patients with that genetic makeup.
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Benefits of Personalized Medicine
Personalized medicine can help reduce the overall costs of health care. Consolidating personalized medicine in the system of health care help curb all the health care costs incurred due to inefficiencies like reactive treatment, adverse drug reactions, trial, and error dosing, and late diagnosis, (Badwaik 2019). The research’s demonstration of genetic testing to target dosing of the warfarin resulted in 31% fewer hospitalizations that are overall for patients and up to 48 percent few hospitalizations for thromboembolism and bleeding. Another example is the Medco (Pharmacy benefits manager) and Mayo Clinic researching a 3600- prospective subject study. Hospitalization of patients with heart problems was reduced to 30% when the genetic information for the patients was provided.
It has also shifted the focus of medicine from reaction to prevention. This is due to the different molecular markers that show a certain disease before the clinical symptoms show. It offers a chance for early intervention and reduces the risk of sudden death. For example, women with certain BRCA1 or BRCA2 gene variations have up to an 85 percent chance of a lifetime to develop breast cancer as compared to the 13 percent of the other women with normal genes. BRCA1 and BRCA2 genetic testing can prevent frequent mammograms, prophylactic surgery, and chemoprevention. There are more than 15,000 tests for more than 2800 genes. Taking these tests helps with the prevention of certain diseases. For example, a patient diagnosed with cardiomyopathy is more inclined to a lifestyle change to avoid sudden death (Budny et al., 2017).
Disadvantages
Despite the numerous benefits personalized medicine has to offer, it also has setbacks. One of the major disadvantages is the issue of patient's privacy. Some people may not ethically use the information. For example, insurance companies may take the opportunity to deny coverage to the patient due to the discovery of certain genetic findings.
Also, stumbling upon a life-changing disease with no cure is unethical. This may lead to patients developing mental issues, as knowledgeable as they are, and may have a huge impact on a patient's life. Knowing you are destined to die from a disease that cannot be treated may lead to patients developing suicidal thoughts.
Impact of Personalized Medicine on Health Information Management
Personalized medicine is growing rapidly, and the only way to manage the health information data is by transforming to electronic. They help in keeping personalized health records for the patients to be used for future reference. Future medicine will have to deploy strategies like genomic technologies and molecular theories, thereby bringing opportunities to prevent, predict, and pre-empt diseases. However, this disease process will depend entirely on the knowledge of the health care providers' management capabilities, which is not currently available.
Conclusion
Personalized medicine is the future of medicine. Predicting a disease will help save many lives if an investment is made into this certain field. Trends will keep evolving and growing. It is important to keep up with the trends to make the health care system work for us. Personalized medicine is a form of preventive medical plan that reduces the mortality rate by predicting terminal illnesses.
References
Badwaik, R. (2019). Precision Medicine: Emerging Trends in Cancer Therapy. Journal of Clinical & Diagnostic Research , 13 (10).
Budny, J., Fox, J., Rauh, M., & Fineberg, M. (2017). Emerging trends in anterior cruciate ligament reconstruction. The journal of knee surgery , 30 (01), 63-69.
Juthe, R. H., Zaharchuk, A., & Wang, C. (2015). Celebrity disclosures and information seeking: the case of Angelina Jolie. Genetics in Medicine , 17 (7), 545-553.
