The rapidly emerging field of predictive medicine uses genetic information to predict whether or not susceptibility to a particular disease is increased in completely healthy individuals and to institute preventive measures that will either prevent the disease outright or significantly decrease its impact upon the patient should it ever occur. Genetic technology has reached the point where the cost of conducting comprehensive genetic screening for hundreds of rare and common diseases at a single time is now affordable, and our knowledge of how to use this information is increasing at an exponential rate. Comprehensive genetic screening allows for the prediction of disease years to decades before it even exists.
The goal of predictive medicine is to predict future disease so that health care professionals and their patients can be proactive in instituting personalized prevention, such as lifestyle modifications, increased physician surveillance, and medications. We can now start to integrate genetics into our everyday lives. Instead of wondering what our genes hold in store for us, we can gain that insight now and use this foreknowledge to improve our lives and battle disease in ways never before possible.
With comprehensive genetic testing and predictive medicine, we launch an innovative strategy against disease, attacking it before it even manifests. Predictive medicine changes the fundamental paradigm of medicine from being reactive to being proactive and has the potential to significantly decrease the prevalence of both common and rare diseases. Predictive medicine, therefore, provides a new counteroffensive in our war against Alzheimer’s, cancer, heart disease, and many other diseases that have plagued our civilization for centuries. We can defeat these diseases because we can now predict the likelihood of their occurring and take the actions necessary to protect ourselves against them.
