How should presymptomatic genetic testing be performed?
Genetic testing in individuals who do not have diagnostic symptoms is termed pre-symptomatic genetic testing. Potential benefits of presymptomatic testing include family, social, and professional planning as well as removing the stress of uncertainty about the future. Genetic testing also comes with many potential adverse consequences. For those who test positive, these consequences include the awful fate of waiting for an inescapable and horrible disease to start, increased genetic risk for existing offspring, real threats to health and life insurance coverage, and other forms of genetic discrimination. Even those testing negative can have poor psychological adjustments, such as survival guilt. Adding to these complications, presymptomatic individuals often have a poor understanding of what they are asking for when they do seek genetic testing. For example, a common experience is for presymptomatic individuals to ask for genetic testing because they are worried about possible symptoms
