Genetic testing. I smiled into my camera during our virtual Wednesday teaching session — pausing for effect. One of our junior team members has just made the statement that one of our patients qualified for a sponsored genetic testing program. I politely corrected them: “I think what you wanted to say was that this program qualifies for doing genetic testing on our patient”. The focus of epilepsy genetics is changing, shifting away from genetic testing to what genetic tests mean and how we can use them for better treatment. However, getting to a diagnosis requires the ability to perform genetic testing in the first place. And the framework for how this can be accomplished is vastly different within the US and internationally. In this second blog post on our review on epilepsy precision medicine, I would like to revisit the current state of genetic testing in the epilepsies. And yes, genetic testing should be standard of care and affordable for people with epilepsy. It’s that simple. Period. Continue reading →